


We're the Same

by ZeroNumbers



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-10-13 02:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 45,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20575094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeroNumbers/pseuds/ZeroNumbers
Summary: After a near crippling attack on the Armada from a resistance group, the Almighty Tallest receive a transmission from a certain Invader. What they didn't expect was what he had to say. And how it might affect their invasions. An epic story of space, galactic conquest, and two Irkens who are more alike than they would ever admit. Rating and genres may change in the future. Originally posted on fanfiction.net





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been toying around with this idea ever since I saw Enter the Florpus. Not entirely sure where it will go, though I have a general idea of what the story will entail. Tags may change later on in the story. Hope you guys enjoy what I have to offer. If you read this, please drop me a review. Any and all constructive criticisms are welcome. I've never used AO3 before, so please excuse any strange formatting or whatever may happen.

Galactic conquest was supposed to be simple.

Aboard the Massive, Tallest Red stood at a control panel inside the communications room. Around him were dozens of Irken personnel, typing away at their posts. Doing everything in their power to keep the Massive on its flight path. Light chatter could be heard throughout the room as the crew discussed their current situation. Red took a small glance around the room to be sure everyone was doing their job. Not that he had any doubt. After all, they had the high honor of working alongside their Tallest on their most important journey across the galaxy. Plus, the most recent situation seemed to have everyone on edge. The entirety of the crew on the Massive were fully committed to their posts as they tried to assess the damage.

It's not every day that some scum sucking moron dares to attack the Armada.

Satisfied that none of his crew were slacking off, Red continued to sift through many different windows on the holographic display. He had already seen the files on them before. It had been a long time since he had ever even heard of the group, so he needed a quick refresher. He couldn't help but chuckle as he read the dossier.

"What a stupid name for a resistance group," Red mused. Purple, standing beside him and eating a bag of donuts, agreed.

"I know, right? You'd think a Vortian scientist could come up with something better."

Red continued looking through every file they had on 'The Resisty.' He wasn't really sure what he was looking for. There wasn't much, just a few brief articles on the known resistance members. Twelve of them, to be exact. As far as Red could tell from the files, there weren't any other members. They all seemed to operate from one large ship. Lard Nar, a Vortian, was presumably the leader of the pack. Despite being a member of one of the smartest species in the galaxy, it was clear that he was in over his head. The Resisty were certainly not a threat to the Irken Empire in any way, shape, or form.

At least, that's what Red had believed. Until a few hours ago, that is.

"What's up with you, anyway?" Purple asked, turning to Red. "We already drove them back. Most of their fighters were taken out by our own. What's got you so worried?" Purple happily shoved another donut down his gullet, munching loudly. Red shook his head and sighed.

"This wasn't a small scale attack," Red replied, glaring at Purple. He punched in a few commands on the console, and the hologram shifted to a map of the Armada flight plan. On it was, of course, The Massive. The incredibly large ship was surrounded by thousands of support ships, fighters, and fuelers following the path of the Massive. Their job was to protect the Massive and neutralize any potential threats. Irken text appeared in many places, pointing to specific ships and locations within the Armada.

Red continued, pointing up at the display. "Look at the amount of damage they did. We lost hundreds of ships. The Massive itself has taken significant damage. We're lucky they didn't blow out the engines! Do you have any idea what that battle cost us?" Purple cocked his head in confusion.

"So what? We won. We're alive and they're dead. Here, want a donut?" Purple held up the frosted treat to Red, who growled angrily.

"You don't get it, do you?" Red said, frustrated. He slapped the donut out of his partner's hand. It landed on the metal floor. Purple looked at him in shock.

"Hey, I was gonna eat that if you didn't!" Purple accused. Red ignored him and pressed on.

"Only a few of the ships attacking us were confirmed to be Resisty members. Over half of them were unknown. They've had a long time to build their resistance. There's no way they're still the same tiny group that used to pester us." Red paused for a moment and closed his eyes. "No one's ever managed such an attack against us."

"So?" Purple shrugged. "We're the freaking Irken Empire! There's no way anyone can beat us." Red shook his head.

"Did you already forget about-"

"My Tallest!" The communications officer interrupted Red, sounding frantic. "We have an incoming transmission!"

This peaked Red's interest.

"Trace it," he demanded. "Where is it coming from?" The officer tapped a few commands away and looked back at Red with a confused expression.

"Um, I'm sorry sir. The signal is being jammed. I can't trace it." Red sighed in disappointment. So much for that. Well, assuming this was someone from the Resisty, maybe he could at least get some information from them.

"Bring it up on screen," Red relented. He nearly had a conniption once the image was brought up. He could see Purple about to hyperventilate in his peripheral.

It was not the Resisty. Red desperately wished it was.

"Zim." Red narrowed his eyes at the screen. Sure enough, on screen was a green Irken 'soldier' wearing a red striped shirt. His eyes were narrow, his mouth in a vicious scowl. His antennae lay flat against his head, reaching back behind his neck. Red noticed Zim's strange demeanor, but put it away in the back of his mind. It didn't matter anyways, he was far too busy for this.

"My _Tallest_." Zim spat the title at them. Red's eyes widened at that. He had never heard that tone from Zim before. He shook his head and addressed the phony invader.

"What do you want, Zim? We're kind of in the middle of something here." Zim made no reaction. There was no blabbering about how great his Tallest were. No excited cheers as Zim unveiled his newest (stupid) plan. Instead, Zim stared at them unflinchingly. After a moment, Zim responded.

"This will only take a moment. I just have a simple question." Red looked at Purple and met his eyes. Purple just shrugged. Red turned back to the screen.

"Alright, fine, What is it?"

"How long until you reach Earth?" Zim's voice was anything but innocent. Red once again turned to Purple, who once again shrugged before going back to his donuts.

"Uh, I'm not sure Zim," Red replied warily. "We kinda have a situation going on here, and I-"

"HOW LONG? ZIM DEMANDS THAT YOU TELL!" Zim shouted, his eyes closed tightly in fury. With that, just about everyone in the room gasped. Red could feel the eyes of every crew member staring at him and Purple, waiting to see their response. Purple dropped his donuts in shock. Red narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right here, but he had to get back to overseeing the repair of the Massive. He needed to get Zim out of his antennae as soon as possible.

"Alright Zim," Red said, staring at the display and watching Zim closely. "Look, I dunno what's gotten into you, but if you need to know so badly then we'll check the flight path and call you back in a few. Deal?" Zim's eyes widened ever so slightly at that. Silence permeated the room as Zim assumingly thought over the proposition. When he found whatever it was he was looking for in his thoughts, he narrowed his eyes again.

"I see," Zim said quietly. After another brief bout of silence, Zim chuckled at his leaders. "Well, don't bother, because I have already seen your entire flight plan."

"WHAT?" Red and Purple shouted in unison. Zim continued scowling at them.

"I have spent quite a while collecting enough power to jack into the Massive's network," Zim explained. "There's a lot of interesting information in there, you know. Things you probably didn't want me to see." Red took in a deep breath.

_Well, there goes our entertainment._

Before Red could respond, Purple jumped in.

"Hey! You can't do that! That's illegal!" Purple pointed up accusingly at Zim, before looking back at Red. "Um, I mean, that _is_ illegal right? 'Cuz if it's not, it probably should be." Red decided to try to save the situation. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he knew how stupid Zim was. He'd believe anything his Almighty Tallest would tell him.

"Zim," Red said in the nicest way he could muster. He was going to have to play this one safe. "Clearly the flight plans you somehow sto- er... gathered from our database is out of date. If you like I can send you the upd-"

"SILENCE! ENOUGH OF YOUR FILTHY LIES!" This struck a nerve in Red. Now he was pissed. There was no way he was going to allow an Irken to speak to his masters in that way.

"Alright Zim, that's enough!" Red bellowed. "Stand down!"

"I will no longer take orders from you, _Red._"

Another collective gasp from the occupants in the communications room. Red and Purple, for their part, were too stunned to even reply. Not a single Irken had ever referred to the Tallest by anything other than their title. They had never in their life experienced such disobedience from any of their subordinates. That thought tickled at the back of Red's mind. Zim was by far was the most annoyingly loyal and faithful member of the Irken species, and here he was refusing a direct order. An act punishable by death. There were very few Irkens in history who had been convicted of such a crime. You could count the number of them on an Irken's hand.

The stunned silence didn't let up until Zim continued.

"Five years. Five damned Earth years I've spent on this miserable rock. Five years I've spent trying to prove my allegiance and worth to you. Five years completely _wasted._" The last word was spat venomously at Red and Purple. "But it wasn't _just_ five years I've wasted, was it?" Zim said, more quietly.

"What do you mean?" Red asked.

"You knew," Zim responded simply. "Even before you sent me off Conventia, you knew. You had to have known." Red and Purple's antennae perked. Suddenly, they weren't talking about Zim's exile to Earth. Red realized immediately what was being spoken of. It had never really occurred to him that Zim might find out. After all, this was Zim. Quite possibly the most moronic Irken that ever existed. Red looked back up to his former underling, unsure of what to say. Zim, frustrated that he was getting no answer from his former leaders, screamed almost painfully. "WHY DID YOU NOT HAVE ME TERMINATED? IT IS PROTOCOL! YOU OF ALL IRKENS SHOULD KNOW THIS!"

"You were supposed to be dead," Red explained. "We didn't think you'd actually find a planet to try to take over."

"And what about after Operation Impending Doom I?" Zim asked frantically. "You should have sent me for a Existence Evaluation. But you didn't. Why?"

"Honestly," Purple finally found a spot to enter the conversation, smiling. "We thought it'd be funnier if you were banished to slavery rather than waste our time at the Control Brains on Judgementia. I mean, after you started pestering us about this Earth planet, we had plans to take you to them. But we figured it was too much trouble to go out of our way just for someone like you." Red could see Zim's anger boiling over.

"Purple, this is serious," Red chided. "Can you please just shut up and eat your donuts?"

"What?" Purple accused, eyes narrowing. "It's Zim for crying out loud. Are you seriously taking him... uh, seriously?"

"_Later_," Red insisted, trying to get Purple to shut up. Zim apparently picked up on this. He grinned smugly at Red and Purple.

"I'm not sure what you're so worried about, Red," Zim said. "Zim would never harm his _Almighty Tallest_. Rest assured that your plans will not be interfered with."

"Small comfort," Red said sarcastically. "But you're the one who should be worried Zim. You've got a lot of guts to speak to us in such ways. You do realize how many crimes against the Irken Empire you've just committed, yes?" Zim just continued smiling.

"Well then, if you're so concerned about one lone Irken who resides on a planet billions of light years away from your flight path, then why don't you come and get me?" Red smirked evilly. He had him now.

"How about, instead of doing that, I just self-destruct your base?" Zim still didn't stop smiling.

"You underestimate the intelligence of ZIM!" Zim exclaimed, throwing his hands up for dramatic effect. "You think I wouldn't have cut all connections to the Massive before calling you? Go ahead and press your button. It will do NOTHING!"

Red, calling Zim's apparent bluff, looked directly at one of the crew members and nodded his head. The communications officer nodded in return, and typed in a few commands. Red and Purple waited, looking at the screen in anticipation.

Nothing.

Zim's smug demeanor remained unchanged.

"Pathetic," Zim said. He raised his hand in a mocking salute. "Defective Zim, signing off."

"This isn't over Zim," Red quickly hissed. "We're not done."

"Oh, I assure you. We're done here."

With that, the transmission was cut and the screen went black. Red stared at the inactive screen silently. Purple stood in a brief silence before hovering in the air. He raised his arms in cheer.

"WOO-HOO! Hey everybody!" He shouted out to the crew. "We don't have to deal with Zim anymore! Someone go get a round of snacks in here for everybody!" The crew around the Tallest gave unsure cheers to Purple's antics. Red could tell they were uneasy. He didn't blame them, as he felt the same uneasiness.

"Idiot," he spat. He turned towards the exit of the communication room and headed towards it, angry. As the food drone began handing snacks and drinks to everyone, Red walked out the door.

_Let Purple act like a moron if that's what he wants. _Red thought.

Zim was right about one thing, Earth was very far away from their intended course. If they really wanted Zim to be tried for treason, they either have to dramatically change course or send someone to Earth. Sending out a hit team wasn't an option right now. He still had to assess the losses from the Resisty attack. Red shook his head.

Purple might not see it now, but they might have very big problem on their hands.

Galactic conquest was supposed to be simple.


	2. Chapter 2

Zim wasn't in school today.

That fact was plainly obvious, given the empty seat in the classroom.

"So, given what we've learned so far, your homework assignment tonight will be to write a one-thousand-word essay on why everything you love and cherish will eventually turn to _nothing._"

Dib drowned out the gravely and hateful tone of Ms. Bitters. Even if he were inclined to pay attention to whatever ridiculous lecture she was giving at the moment, her demeanor and crazy tangents made her hard to take seriously. Make no mistake. The woman was downright scary. Every student feared her. It seemed her recent promotion to history teacher at the High Skool didn't change her one bit. Dib still could not believe he would have to deal with the vile woman for another year. He suspected that Ms. Bitters had contracted some form of dementia after all her years teaching. How old was she anyway? Eh, it didn't matter.

What did matter was the aforementioned empty seat in the classroom. Zim's seat. In the five years Dib had known the alien, he knew to be suspicious whenever Zim didn't show up to class. Almost every time Zim had skipped out on school, it was to plan for some crazy scheme of taking over the Earth. Well, maybe not every time. Not as much as in the past few months at least, but it was still something to watch out for.

The alien recently had missed out on a decent amount of school. Dib, accurate as he always is when tracking Zim's actions, knew the invader skipped out on five occasions in the past two months, not including today. Of course, he always checked his security footage whenever Zim acted suspiciously. Which was all the time. It wasn't much, just a few hidden cameras surrounding the perimeter of the house. Some of them had decent angles on the windows, but none of the footage he had seen came up with anything. Just a few hours of that little robot of his watching TV.

In fact, it had been few months since Zim had even attempted to take over the world. This, more than anything, worried Dib. Zim wasn't one to just get lazy and give up on his mission. If there was one thing Dib would to give to Zim, it was his never ending drive to carry out what his masters had ordered. The human had seen first hand just how loyal Zim was to his Tallest. He would do absolutely anything to please them, no matter how life threatening or asinine. No, Zim had definitely not given up. Something else was going on. He had to be planning something big.

He took a glance up at Ms. Bitters. Satisfied that her attention was focused on writing something on the blackboard, Dib pulled up the sleeve on his trench coat. On his wrist was a watch with a digital screen on it. Dib tapped through a few commands and brought up the feed of one of his security cameras. The screen flickered to a slightly angled top-down view of Zim's house. He stared at the image for a moment. Not seeing anything interesting, he switched to a different camera. One with a view of the window. The view was limited, especially with the small size of his watch's screen, but he could still make out parts of the living room. Gir was, surprisingly, not not on the couch. In fact, Dib couldn't really see that anyone was there. There was no movement. No noticeable flashing lights. No sign of anyone moving throughout the house.

_He must be holed up in his base. _Dib thought. _Just what are you planning, Zim?_

"Am I boring you, Dib?"

Dib jumped at the harsh tone of his teacher. He quickly brought his sleeve back down to hide the watch. He looked up at Ms. Bitters, who was now standing directly in front of his desk. Staring down on him with her trademark scowl. Dib shrunk his head into his shoulders.

"S-sorry Ms. Bitters," he meekly answered. "I was just checking the time." Dib wouldn't tell her what he was really doing. If there's one thing Dib realized in the five years he'd known Zim, it's that talking about aliens to anyone gets him nowhere. There was no point in even trying anymore. Clearly, most of the world was far too ignorant to understand what's _really _going on out there. Well, everyone besides his sister, but she didn't care. By this point, Dib was tired of getting so much flak just for trying to keep the Earth safe from an evil alien invader. So he kept his mouth shut. Mostly.

Though, he did still have a habit of talking to himself. Only sometimes.

"And _why _would you check your watch when there's a perfectly good clock right up there?" Ms. Bitters pointed up at the clock near the ceiling. If it were to be believed, it was almost time for lunch period. Dib, unsure of how to respond, merely stuttered.

"I ah... well, I mean-"

"You know Dib," Ms. Bitters interrupted. "When I was your age, I was very good at tricking my teacher into believing I was paying attention. I had every excuse in the book. Every technique, mastered. No one ever expected a thing." She leaned in closer and narrowed her eyes at Dib. "For a while, I was almost starting to believe that maybe you children had learned something from me after all. But clearly you're all such _miserable _disappointments that you don't even know how to _pretend_ to pay attention." Dib rolled his eyes, not really caring if she saw. He had already heard many reasons why he and his classmates were filth from Ms. Bitters. It was kind of getting old at this point.

"Well," Dib started. "Sorry I don't know how to trick you? I guess?" He gave her a nervous smile. Ms. Bitters narrowed her eyes even further. Dib swore he could hear her start to growl. Quick as a flash of light, Ms. Bitters snapped her arm towards Dib pointing directly at his chest.

"Tell me, you and Zim are friends, correct?" Dib desperately held in the tirade that was about to explode. He remembered how this usually went. He'd vehemently deny being friends, try to explain that he was an alien, and then whoever was talking to him would call him crazy. Maybe they'd even give the Crazy House for Boys a call. But no, he was over that now. Or at least, he was still trying to get over it.

"No ma'am," Dib replied. "We're not friends. We're just classmates." Ms. Bitters kept her arm pointing accusingly at Dib.

"Whatever, point is you know where he lives, right?"

"Yes ma'am." With Dib's confirmation, Ms. Bitters nodded and pulled out a few sheets. She placed them on Dib's desk.

"I've given you an extra copy of the assignment," she explained, keeping her hand on the papers. "Along with material from today's lesson plan. You will deliver the assignment and the lesson plan to Zim." Dib snorted.

"What am I, his caretaker?" The moment he spoke those words, he immediately regretted them. Surely Ms. Bitters would have some form of punishment for that one. But it wasn't Ms. Bitters who answered, it was some kid in the back of the room.

"Haha, you may as well be," the voice gleefully shouted to the front of the room. "You're the one that's so obsessed with him." Dib immediately turned around to defend himself.

"I'm _not _obsessed with him! It's just that he's an-" He quickly stopped himself and took in a deep breath. The giggling kid replied.

"He's a what? Come on, say the line Dib!" The class broke out in laughter. Dib turned back around and stewed in his anger. As much as he wanted to fight back, he knew better. He didn't bother with a reply. He sat in silence. He was suddenly startled when Ms. Bitters shot her other hand down on his desk with a loud thwack.

"You _will _deliver the assignment to Zim," Ms. Bitters growled threateningly. "Otherwise, I'm failing you for the rest of the year."

"Oh, _come on!_" Ms. Bitters quickly slithered her wrinkled face directly in front of Dib. So fast that he jumped back a little.

"Am I clear, Dib?" She waited, clearly only expecting one response. Dib sighed and relented.

"Yeah, you're clear." The voice from the back went on.

"Hey look on the bright side Dib, you'll get to see your boyfriend!" Another bout of laughter. Dib didn't look back this time. There was no point in responding. He shoved his head into his arms, desperately pleading for the lunch bell to ring.

Mercifully, it did. The students piled out of the classroom. Some of them shot a few verbal jabs at Dib on their way out. Once everyone was gone, he dejectedly walked out of the classroom and headed for the cafeteria.

* * *

Cornbread and Mayo Day.

_Blech_

These days, Dib was smart enough to pack his own lunch. Better safe than sorry, after all. Who knows what the cooks in the cafeteria were doing back there. Some of the combinations they came up with were absolutely foul. He didn't blame Zim for never eating the school's lunch, even if he was an alien.

Dib sat at his usual table with his bagged lunch, which he had yet to touch. Next to him sat Gaz. Her eyes were focused on her handheld gaming system. His eyes briefly looked at whatever game she was playing. It seemed to be some new Vampire Piggy game. How many of those damn things were they going to make anyways?

He turned back to his lunch bag. He wasn't really that hungry. He still had his mind on Zim. If he really was using all his 'sick' days to plan for world domination, there very well might be huge trouble brewing. Zim wasn't exactly competent in his mission, but he still had the potential to level the city. Hell, he had the potential to level the whole goddamned world. Even if his crazy ideas may not lead to him being the alien overlord of Earth, they certainly can lead to devastating results. After all, Zim had proven himself many times to be highly destructive.

Determined to not waste his lunchtime, he pulled out his laptop and opened it. The screen came on and Dib typed in his password. Out of habit, he opened up his security camera feeds. Just as before, there was no activity. He sighed in disappointment.

"He's up to something, Gaz. He's gotta be."

"You know," Gaz said, clearly annoyed that Dib was talking to her. She was still tapping away on her game. Her gaze never left the screen. "Just because you're trying to stop acting crazy around everyone else, doesn't mean I want to be the outlet for your crazy." Dib smacked his forehead.

"You know I'm not crazy," he told her. "You know what Zim is like. What he can do."

"More like what he hasn't done," Gaz replied. Dib raised his eyebrow.

"What?" he questioned. Then Gaz did something Dib had very rarely seen her do whenever they were talking. She paused her game, set it down on the table, and looked directly at Dib. He cringed a bit. She may have stopped beating on him quite as much as she used to, but that didn't really make her any less intimidating.

"How long has Zim been here, Dib?" Gaz asked seriously.

"Five years, three weeks, and two days." His eyes rolled back a bit in thought. "Well, minus a few hours I guess." Gaz stared at Dib almost disbelievingly. She cocked her head to the side.

"Whoa," she said in amazement. "You're even creepier than I am." Dib just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever," he said, annoyed at his sister's jab. "What's your point?"

"Has Zim taken over the world?" she asked plainly.

"Well, no but-"

"And there you go." She pointed menacingly at Dib. "Now shut up, eat your lunch, and leave me alone." She picked up her game and resumed her war with the vampire piggies. With a grunt, she added, "Honestly, after all this time you still don't realize that I don't care about your beef with Zim." Dib just stared at his sister incredulously. She was right, he really couldn't believe she wasn't worried at all about what kind horrors Zim could unleash on Earth. He narrowed his eyes, determined to make her understand.

"You may not take Zim seriously, Gaz," he accused. "But I do! Even if he isn't able to take over the world, you know how much damage he can do when he's determined!" Gaz didn't look up from her game. She merely shook her head.

"Stop worrying," she said. "He hasn't even tried anything lately. Now shut the hell up. You're messing with my zone, and I don't want to have to restart this level just because you keep bugging me."

Dib didn't respond to that. He turned back to his laptop. The security feeds didn't change. Nothing was happening. At least, nothing that he could see. It was clear that Dib needed more information. There was no way he was going to give Zim enough time to finish whatever plan he was working on. He thought back to the demand Ms. Bitters made. He had to go to Zim's house to deliver the assignment anyways, he may as well use this opportunity to try to figure out what was going on in that base.

With his decision made, he finally opened up his bag and ate his lunch in silence.

* * *

Zim did not go to school today.

That fact was plainly obvious, given his presence inside his base.

There was no point in going to school anymore. At first, Zim only went to gather information on the humans. He was hoping he'd find some sort of weakness that would help him take over Earth. While his education did give him a lot of insight on human culture, it didn't take long for him to realize that school would not help him in his endeavors. After a while of being on this disgusting rock, he decided to keep going just to avoid suspicion. No one suspected he was an alien. Well, no one outside of that Dib-monster and his horrible sister unit. But if he didn't keep going, then people might start asking questions.

Of course, none of that really mattered now.

Zim sat silently in his PAK maintenance room, contemplating his options. It had been a few hours since he had called Red and Purple. While his temper subsided ever so slightly, he still felt the anger and betrayal threatening to boil it back over the edge. Over the last year or so, he had started to suspect that the Tallest didn't think very highly of him. He had first thought it was because of his inability to take over Earth. After all, from what he could tell, most of the other invaders had completed their missions long ago. But as he kept calling his former leaders every other week, he began to suspect something else was going on. There was one transmission in particular that Zim kept dwelling on. He could still hear their condescending voices as he tried to explain his, at the time, latest brilliant plan.

_We don't care Zim. _Red's voice bounced in Zim's thoughts_ Don't call us unless you have results._

_You have got to be the single worst invader we've ever assigned. _Purple's voice rang back.

Yeesh, that hurt. But it wasn't enough to stop Zim. He was going to prove himself to his Tallest. He was going to complete his mission. He was going to show them that he really was an invader. He was going to take over Earth. He was-

Zim felt a small shock in his back, and his body shook with a slight spasm. He growled in pain. He looked at the display in front of him. His PAK was connected to a large Irken computer. He fished through a few windows on his display as he waited for his PAK's maintenance to finish. Normally, he would render himself unconscious for the duration of the procedure. The process wasn't exactly painless. However, he didn't want to waste any of his time. He was too busy pondering his current situation. Flipping to another window, Zim sighed and stared once more at his PAK's profile.

_NAME: ZIM_

_RANK: FRY COOK_

_STATUS: BANISHED TO FOODCOURTIA_

_PAK MAINTENANCE: 85% COMPLETE_

Zim sighed, somewhat mournfully. He almost wished he had just stayed on Foodcourtia. If he had, he wouldn't have the means to access the Massive's network. He could have lived in blissful ignorance. Well, maybe not. He would have been miserable had he stayed. At least he would have had a real purpose, though. If only he wasn't so damn curious about when the Tallest would get to Earth.

It wasn't that hard to get a backdoor connection to the Massive. Tedious maybe, but not hard. Zim had been spending the last three months attempting to harness whatever power he could so his Computer could take on the job. He made huge upgrades to the processors. He ran cables underneath the Earth's crust to harness the energy of its molten core. The Computer ran calculations constantly for weeks. It was only a few days ago that they finally managed to break into the database. Zim, curious as he always was, went straight for the flight plan of the Armada.

Despite the horror of Zim's discovery upon reading the plan, the fake invader kept going. And that's where things got even more horrifying.

Zim wondered how long he had been deemed a Defective. Perhaps after Operation Impending Doom I? Or maybe sometime after? Was it the Control Brains' doing when they reassigned him to a fry cook? No, that didn't make sense. Surely they would have immediately terminated him and deleted the data from his PAK. Defectives are not allowed to live, lest they inadvertently infect the other Irkens in the hive. So why was he still here? If the Control Brains knew there was a Defective roaming about, surely they would immediately issue orders to remove the threat. But no one ever came. Did they even know? Zim wasn't so sure. Well, if they didn't know before, they certainly were going to know now.

That thought brought up Zim's current situation. He was, effectively, banished from the Irken Empire. On a planet they had absolutely no interest in. He was a Defective, a mistake. He no longer had any real purpose. Even his assigned post Foodcourtia had no reason to exist. _He _had no reason to exist. Hell, by Irken standards, he had no _right _to exist. He eyed the emergency command located on the top right corner of the display.

It was the right thing to do. It was the Irken thing to do. Every Irken's PAK maintenance device was installed with it in case of an emergency. After all, it would do no good to allow an active PAK with sensitive information fall into enemy hands. He may have been betrayed by the Irken Empire, but he wasn't about to let some filthy humans get their disgusting hands on Irken knowledge.

His hand floated towards the command. Before he could initialize it, he hesitated. Was he really going to do this?

**"Uh, Zim?" **The Computer's bored voice drawled. The electronic tone boomed throughout the room. Zim jumped and tore his hand away from the display.

"What?" Zim hissed.

**"Nothing," **the Computer simply replied. **"Just making sure you're not doing something stupid." **Zim narrowed his eyes.

"SILENCE!" he shouted. "You will not speak to your master in that way." Zim closed the window on the display, annoyed. It wasn't stupid, it was the right thing to do.

Strangely though, Zim felt a small bit of relief that he did not just terminate himself.

**"Whatever," **the Computer groaned. The Irken AI said no more, leaving Zim to his silence. He desperately tried to shut his thoughts down. He didn't really want to think anymore. He just wanted his PAK maintenance to be finished. Another painful shock shot through his spine. He grunted, looking back at the PAK maintenance display.

_PAK MAINTENANCE COMPLETE_

Zim sighed in relief and pulled the plug off of his PAK. With that done, he walked out of the room and headed towards his control center. On his way there, his Computer spoke again.

**"Sir, repairs on GIR unit are complete," **he informed Zim. **"Now focusing efforts on Voot Cruiser repair." **Zim didn't reply and continued walking. It happened a three days ago. In an effort to gain more power for his attempts at hacking into the Massive, Zim took his trusty Voot Cruiser out. He had read up on nuclear power plants, and the massive amounts of energy they produce for human consumption. The idea was to connect his base to the structure's power outlet. From there, he could divert all power to his base. Unfortunately, Gir wanted to come along.

The plan went fairly well. It worked, at least. Zim knew the humans would be far too stupid to realize what was going on. They always were. Unfortunately, on the way home from the plant, Gir got a hold of the ship's controls. He had seen a cat or something. Zim didn't really remember, he had long been desensitized to Gir's madness. Needless to say, the Voot Cruiser suffered a pretty bad crash. Zim made it out okay, thanks to his ship's emergency escape procedures. Gir, however, was not so lucky. The robot suffered in the crash just about as badly as the ship. As Zim had salvaged the crash, he pulled out his non-functioning GIR unit.

Now, Zim felt at least slightly relieved that the repairs seemed to be going well. It brought his mind off of the betrayal of his leaders. Zim reached the chair of his control center and sat down, exhausted. He stared up at the many screens. Some of them were showing human television. Others were security cameras of the High Skool. Zim noted that everyone seemed to have left the school already. He briefly wondered how the Dib-monkey would react to his absence. After all, skipping school had already been a relatively frequent event for Zim. Surely the unusually large-headed boy would react somehow. He always did.

As if he knew exactly what Zim was thinking, the Computer interrupted his thoughts.

**"Sir, there's an intruder at the door." **Zim peeked at the footage. Of course, it was him. That wretched human boy. Dib was seen furiously banging on the front door.

"_Open up Zim!" _Dib's loud voice could be heard through the display. _"Get out here and face me!" _Zim rolled his eyes. He was in absolutely no mood for this.

"Let the gnomes handle it," Zim demanded.

"**Can't. They're inactive." **Zim's antennae raised at that. He took a closer look at the footage and stared at one of the gnomes. Attached to it was some sort of electronic device that was hissing sparks. Zim growled in anger. Of course Dib would know how to get around them by now. They'd been enemies for five years now, after all. Zim figured he really should update his security measures sometime. The alien waved a hand at the display and leaned back in his chair.

"Whatever, let the monkey knock. He'll go away eventually."

"_I'm not going away Zim! Not until I at least give you this stupid homework assignment!"_

Zim groaned, knowing the human was speaking truth. He was just about as stubborn as Zim himself. Growling in annoyance, Zim got out of his chair and headed towards the elevator.

"Computer!" he demanded. "Take me to the ground level."

"**You're the boss." **Zim stepped on the elevator and felt it move upwards. The last thing he wanted was to deal with that horrible Dib. He just wanted to be left alone to figure out what he was going to do.

* * *

Dib's fist was starting to hurt. He had been constantly pounding on the door for a few minutes now. He knew Zim would come out eventually. Surely his computer AI would tell him about the EMP devices he placed on the security gnomes. The only way Dib was going to be dragged away was if Zim came out and did it himself. Or the police, if the neighbors decided they had enough of his crazed screaming.

Dib wasn't really sure if he'd be able to gain any information from Zim. The alien was secretive, though that word was always used loosely. He wasn't exactly known for his subtlety. Dib thought maybe a talk with him would glean some insight into what might be going on in there. That, and he still had to give Zim his homework lest he face the wrath of his scary teacher. Dib's ears picked up footsteps coming within the house. He stopped knocking and steeled his face, trying to look intimidating. Dib was surprised by what he saw when the door opened. A completely undisguised Zim, looking incredibly annoyed.

"_What?" _Zim shouted at the boy. "What do you want, Dib-stink?" Dib raised an eyebrow.

"Whoa," he exclaimed. He quickly reached in his trench coat pocket. The empty space brought a wave of disappointment. "Oh _come on, _the one time I don't bring my camera is the time you answer the door without your disguise?" Zim looked confused before patting the top of his head. His expression quickly changed into a slight panic. After a brief moment, Zim sighed and seemed to calm down. He narrowed his eyes at Dib again.

"I won't ask again," he warned. "What do you want? I am in no mood for your stupidity." Dib's eyes widened in surprise. Did Zim not care that he was currently completely exposed to anyone who might happen to look upon the scene? It sure seemed that way, but it didn't make sense. Moronic as Zim can be, he wasn't one to let anyone see him without his disguise unless the alien deemed it safe to do so. And it certainly wasn't safe for him to be exposed at his front door in broad daylight. Dib took a look around to see if anyone was watching. Seeing no one, he turned back to Zim.

"Uh," Dib started, still pretty shocked. He shook his head and regained his confidence. "I wanna know what you're up to! You've missed a lot of school recently, Zim." His voice was as loud and confident as always. He presented Zim with a small stack of papers. "And, uh," he meekly lowered his voice a bit. "If I don't give you your school assignment, then I'm going to fail for the year." Zim eyed the papers for a moment before looking back at Dib.

"Don't bother," he told the human. "Zim will not be returning to school." Dib gasped in shock at the information. This was it. This was going to be the big one. If Zim was confident that he would not return to school, then he must be ready to enact his newest plan.

"What are you planning Zim?" Dib shouted. He pointed a finger at Zim. "What's your big idea this time, huh?" Zim shook his head.

"_Idiotic _human," the alien spat. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit!" Dib accused. "You've been planning something for months! You had to have been! I know you, Zim. You wouldn't just give up on your Irken Empire!" Zim looked absolutely furious at this. Dib smirked internally. He was getting there, he just had to pester the alien a bit more.

"Leave, Dib. Now." Zim's unusually menacing voice caused Dib to hesitate slightly. Zim started to step back inside, reaching for the door. Dib couldn't stop now, though. He knew he was close to getting Zim to crack. Just a bit more, and Zim would spill the beans. He knew it. Dib jumped at the door before Zim could close it and jammed his foot to stop it. He smirked at the alien.

"What's the matter, shorty?" Dib always loved that taunt. It never failed to rile Zim up. Where Dib and his classmates had grown considerably thanks to puberty, Zim had only grown a few inches. Dib figured he had at least a foot over Zim. The alien made no reaction to his jab. He wasn't even looking at the human. "You're not going cold on me, are you?" Dib continued. "It's been a long time since you tried something. Either you're planning something big, or you're just not the invader your leaders believed." Zim's head snapped and met Dib's sarcastic grin with a furious gaze. The slight fear Dib felt was drowned out by the satisfaction that he was about to win. Again.

Instead of hearing Zim rant about how his latest plan would surely doom humanity, Dib felt the door open. He was then roughly pulled inside by Zim, who closed the door and violently shoved Dib against the wall. Zim had reached up and grabbed at the boy's collar. Dib shouted in a mixture of surprise and pain. He grabbed Zim's arms and struggled. No dice, he couldn't break free from Zim's surprisingly strong hold.

Pain seared his head as Zim threw a powerful punch directly into his cheekbone. His glasses fell from his face and clattered on the ground. He shouted out in pain. Before he could recover, he felt another punch land on his left eye. Zim threw Dib onto the floor and stood over him. Dib brought a hand to his face to feel the damage before looking up at Zim. The alien met his eyes with a glare that spoke of death. Dib felt his heartrate climbing. Zim leaned down to face Dib directly.

"Listen to me very carefully, _Dib-shit," _Zim spoke in a low, dangerous tone. "Let me make something absolutely clear. I have no more desire to take over your miserable planet." Dib's eyes shot wide open in shock. He quickly tried to counter the alien's claims.

"W-what? But-"

"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!" Zim screamed in the boy's face. He calmed his voice down before continuing. "Given that I will no longer pursue the enslavement of your species, you shouldn't find it hard to _leave me alone._" Dib said nothing in response. Zim backed away and opened the door. "Never come here again. If I ever see you snooping around here, I promise that you will be killed. Understand?"

"I-"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, DIB-MONKEY?" Dib cringed at the alien's harsh tone. He reluctantly nodded.

"Y-yeah, sure." Zim nodded slightly, satisfied with Dib's answer. He pointed his hand towards the door.

"Get out," the alien snarled. Dib stumbled his way off the floor, picking up his glasses in the process. Without another look at Zim, Dib quickly left the premises. He heard the door slam shut.

The human was breathing heavily. His head throbbed. The dull pain in his eye indicated he was going to have a nice shiner from Zim's punch. Over the years, Dib had never seen Zim act like that. Sure, Zim was evil and hated the boy with every fibre of his being, but Dib couldn't ever remember being attacked like that. What set the alien off? What happened?

Dib thought back to his insult that seemed to spark Zim's bout of violence. All he did was question his status as an invader. It wasn't the first time Dib had questioned Zim's ability to be one. Like Gaz had said, Zim has never successfully taken over the world. That fact never went unnoticed by Dib. Sure, the boy had thwarted many of Zim's plans. However, a good portion of them always blew up in the alien's face. Was he really that sensitive about his skills?

Zim said he was through with trying to take over the world. Dib didn't really believe that. Part of him thought that Zim was just trying to keep him away from the base. Still, the way Zim had acted was not normal, even by the standards of the alien's usual behavior. And that threat before he was told to leave left Dib uneasy. He had always figured that Zim planned to eventually kill him. Zim had said so himself on many occasions. But this was different. First of all, Dib had never heard Zim use that tone before. He was angry. Furious. More so than the alien had ever been. And Dib hadn't really done anything to piss him off outside of some petty insults. Second, Zim gave him a warning. The alien could have easily killed him right there, and he didn't. But, why? The fact that Dib was alive confused him to no end. However, there was no doubt in Dib's mind that Zim was one hundred percent serious. His threats were definitely not empty. If Dib wanted to spy on Zim, the risk to his life was now more apparent then it ever had been.

Something was going on with Zim, and Dib wasn't so sure he wanted to try and find out.


	3. Chapter 3

"Dib! Get out of bed! We're gonna be late for school!"

Dib's eyes shot open at the harsh sound of his sister calling to him from outside his door. He immediately winced in pain as he was given a reminder of yesterday's events. His head throbbed as his sister beat on his door, trying to get his attention. He groaned and brought a hand to his head. His jaw was sore as hell from Zim's punch, and his now black eye didn't feel much better. He got a good look at himself in the mirror before he had gone to bed the night before, and it wasn't a pretty sight. It was bad enough that not even makeup would cover it.

When Dib had gotten back from Zim's house, he avoided his sister and went straight to his room. Mercifully, she wasn't around to see his injured state. She seemed to have been holed up in her room with her video game. That was totally fine with Dib. After all, he really didn't want to explain to his sister why he looked like he had been jumped. Plus, hearing his sister ridicule him for getting beaten up by Zim was just not what he needed.

Unfortunately, that might be an inevitability.

"Come on, Dib!" The pounding on his door continued. "Stop being stupid and get up!"

Dib groaned, quietly. He couldn't go to school. Not like this. He didn't want to have to deal with the stares. The quiet whispers as the school ran him through the rumor mill. The pointing, and probably laughing, at his misfortune. The kids at school were always ruthless. Dib doubted that they would be able to resist mocking him. Of course, he had gotten used to being bullied over the years. At this point, there really wasn't much his classmates could say or do that Dib had not already seen before. But today... Today he just didn't want to deal with it.

That, and he didn't want to face his scary sister.

"I'm sick," Dib called out to the door. He prayed she would leave him alone. Hopefully she'd be grossed out enough to give up and go to school without him. "Go on without me, Gaz. I'm staying home." Dib deliberately made his voice more nasally, trying to sell the act.

"Yeah, not buying it," his sister responded from behind the door. "Come on, get up or I'll tell dad next time he comes home."

_Yeah, like he cares. _Dib thought. Their dad was barely around. Why should Dib care what the scientist would say about him skipping out on school? Desperate not to leave the room, he decided to double down. Anything to keep Gaz from seeing his eye.

"No, really," Dib groaned. "I feel like shit. Just go, alright? I'm going back to sleep." Dib gave another silent prayer that she would leave.

"Dib, I swear. If you make me come into your room, I'm going to make you regret it for the rest of the month." Dib felt his heart drop. Panic shot through his body.

"NO! No, Gaz. Don't," Dib desperately pleaded. He was so worried that he forgot to put on his sick voice. He thought for a split second before continuing. "I'm probably contagious! You'll catch whatever it is I have."

_Please._

"Alright, that does it Dib."

_Damn it._

A loud slam reverberated through the room as the door flew open. The cracking of wood indicated that he would need a replacement in the future. Just outside the threshold stood Gaz, her leg still in the air from kicking his door in. Dib quickly buried his head under the pillow, trying to delay the inevitable. He heard footsteps heading towards his bed. He began shaking slightly. The footsteps stopped. He couldn't see her, but he knew that she was standing above him right next to his bed. He braced his body in anticipation of whatever doom Gaz had in store for him.

He felt his blankets getting yanked off of him. He gripped the pillow tight over his head. He heard Gaz's muffled growling through the pillow. Despite his fierce grip on the pillow, he felt that get torn from him as well. He jumped a bit as his only means of hiding himself was taken away. He kept his face buried in the mattress. Maybe if he could keep this up, Gaz would get frustrated and just leave.

"Dib, get the hell up," Gaz demanded. "You're not sick. You're going to school." Dib gave a deep sigh through his mattress.

"I'm not going," Dib said, his voice slightly muffled by the fabric. "Do whatever you want to me, but it's not gonna convince me to go."

"You realize I'm strong enough to just drag you there myself, don't you?"

"Gaz, please," he nearly choked out. "I'm begging you. Just leave." There was a long pause. Dib held his breath in. He could tell just how pathetic he sounded. Maybe that would be enough to garner some sympathy from his sister.

Apparently not, as he felt his sister grab his body and flipped him over. Dib was now staring at his sister's furious gaze. As his face, and subsequently his black eye, revealed itself to her, Gaz's expression shifted. Her eyes opened ever so slightly and her mouth opened in shock. Dib swore he could hear a gasp come from her. She maneuvered her head down lower to get a better look.

"What the hell happened to _you?_" she demanded, crossing her arms. Dib sighed and began sitting up. Well, there was no avoiding it now.

"Fell down a flight of stairs," he joked, humorlessly. He cringed at his sister's angry reaction. Clearly she didn't find his quip funny. She tightened her eyes and clenched her fists.

"Dib, you-"

"Go to school, Gaz," Dib interrupted, trying one more time. At the sight of Dib's desperate face, Gaz seemed to relent her anger just a bit. She sighed and shook her head. She grabbed the sleeve of his nightshirt and pulled him off the bed.

"If you're not going to school, then I'm not either," she explained. She started leading him out of his room. Dib shook his head in protest, grabbing his glasses from his nightstand while he was pulled out of the room. As he put them on, he shook his head in protest.

"Gaz, no. You have to go to school." She looked back at Dib and gave him the evil eye.

"If I go, you go," she explained. Dib said nothing to that. He was in a corner on this one. Gaz smirked. "That's what I thought. Now shut up and come on." She led him down to the living room and pointed squarely at the couch. "Lay down, I'll be right back."

Dib did as he was told and got himself comfortable on the couch. He laid his head against the armrest and tried to relax. Gaz left the room, leaving Dib alone to his thoughts. He knew he was going to have to explain what happened. The problem was Dib wasn't really sure himself. Yeah, he got beat up by Zim. That much was obvious. But why did that even happen? Dib still couldn't figure it out.

He faintly heard the faucet in the kitchen start running. He closed his eyes and tried to block out is thoughts. Hmm, nope. No good. His mind was still buzzing. Thinking about Zim. Thinking about what he said.

_I have no more desire to take over your miserable planet._

Before Dib could dwell on that any further, his sister came back into the room. She was holding what looked to be a wet cloth. She walked over to the couch and stopped directly in front of Dib.

"Here," Gaz handed over the cloth. It was quite warm. Gaz explained, "Put it over your eye. It'll help." Dib looked at her curiously. She was... helping him? Dib couldn't believe it. Usually, Gaz was the one who inflicted pain on him, not the one who helped him relieve it. Okay, to be fair, she hadn't been quite as violent to Dib as she used to be over the years. It was still a bit jarring to see her tending to his wounds, though. After taking his glasses off and setting them on the coffee table, he did what he was told and put the warm cloth over his eye. He laid his head back down on the armrest.

He stared up silently at the ceiling. Movement could be felt on the couch as Gaz sat down on the other side. They sat there for a few minutes in an almost unbearable silence. Dib couldn't even hear the familiar bleeps and boops of her video game. Surely she would immediately begin playing it, so she wouldn't get bored, right? He lifted his head up a bit and peeked over at his sister. His eyes met hers. She didn't look away. She seemingly had been staring at him the whole time. He sat his head back down on the armrest and sighed.

"You went to Zim's last night," Gaz pointed out, finally breaking the silence. Dib didn't answer. He continued to stare wordlessly at the ceiling. Gaz, apparently expecting a response, didn't say anything further. Another bout of silence permeated the room. After what felt like an eternity, Gaz spoke again. "What happened?"

Dib sighed heavily. Might as well get this over with.

"Well..."

* * *

Deep down inside the Irken base, Zim continued pouring over the information gathered from the Massive while situated in his control center. It had been almost four days since he first broke into the database, and he was still skimming through it all. He wasn't entirely sure why he kept looking. After all, he had already found the information he had been looking for. However, his curiosity kept pushing him. He learned quite a lot about not just the Armada, but the Irken Empire as a whole. Their battle strategies were laid out in plain Irken text. Planets that had been taken over, and what purpose they had been reassigned upon conquest. Complete dossiers of Invaders and their assigned planets. In fact, most of the information acquired was military in nature.

Of course, there was quite a huge file on Zim himself. He didn't need to look at those files anymore. Just the thought of what they contained was revolting.

He closed out of the folders in disgust. There was nothing more to be gained from continuing to browse through the many files. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. His thoughts buzzed around his future. He was no longer an Invader. Well, he never was in the first place. He had no mission. No purpose. And, confusingly, no desire to do the right thing and terminate his PAK. So, what now?

He briefly thought about his former Tallest. Maybe they'd change their tune if he really did take over the Earth? No, that was pointless. They didn't care about Earth. That much was clear from the flight path. Besides, he had already burnt that bridge when he called them the previous day. There was no going back now. As far as he could tell, Zim was no longer a member of the Irken Empire. Even if he wanted to go back to Irk, he knew it would be a very short-lived visit. They would immediately take him to the main Control Brains on Irk to be terminated. He didn't have anywhere to go. Maybe he should just turn himself in to the Earth authorities. At least then he would have some kind of purpose, even if it was one that was detrimental to his life.

No, he couldn't do that. He would never let the Dib-beast have the satisfaction.

He chuckled at the thought of his enemy. That one-two punch might have been his proudest moment concerning that little worm. Maybe now he'd think twice before trying to bother Zim. At least, that's what the alien hoped. The last thing he wanted to do was explain himself to Dib. He could already hear the taunting in his head.

_What's wrong, space boy? No Irken Empire to back you up, huh? You're nothing more than defective garbage!_

Zim hissed at that thought. No, it would do no good to speak the truth to Dib. It certainly wouldn't stop the dreaded boy from trying to expose Zim. If anything, it might even reinvigorate his efforts at capturing the alien. All Zim could do was try keep Dib away from the base. He hoped his warning would convince the human to stay away. And if he didn't, well...

Zim got out of his chair and headed towards the elevator. It had been almost a full day since he was informed of the repairs, and he was tired of the silence. Tired of thinking. He needed a distraction, and he was just desperate enough to find one. He stepped inside the elevator.

"Computer," Zim called out loudly. "Take me to the repair bay."

**"Sure, whatever," **the Computer replied simply. In less than a second, Zim was ascending. After a moment, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Zim walked into the repair bay. There were several platforms on either side of the room. Each platform was surrounded by a variety of advanced looking Irken technology.

On Zim's immediate right was his Voot Cruiser. It had certainly seen better days. Most of the metal was dented, if not completely crushed. The window of the cockpit was shattered completely. In the back of the ship, two scorched holes indicated a couple of missing engines. Multiple robot arms worked in a frenzy around the ship. Sparks emitted sporadically as the machines did what they could to repair the Voot. Zim raised his antennae at the damage. He was lucky the fusion reactor had not exploded. He spotted Minimoose floating around the Voot, apparently overseeing the repairs. Zim wasn't exactly sure how the moose could help, but he trusted that Minimoose knew what it was doing. After all, it was created by the brilliant mind of Zim! Of course the moose would be useful in repairing the Voot.

Minimoose turned to Zim, who looked up at the strange floating moose.

"Nyah!" the moose chirped. Zim chuckled.

"Yes, Minimoose," he said. "You're uh, doing a great job."

Zim took his eyes off Minimoose and turned to the platform to the immediate left of the elevator. On that platform sat Gir, his malfunctioning SIR unit. The robot was currently connected to the machines by several large cables. He was disabled, as shown by the lack of blue light in his eyes and body. It was all completely greyed out. Zim could have done this immediately after the repairs, but he wanted another day of peace so he could gather his thoughts. Now, the silence was no longer appreciated.

His broken SIR unit may have been given to Zim as a sick joke by the Tallest, but Zim found he had grown somewhat fond of the stupid little robot. Sure, he was crazy. He was destructive. Hell, he had always been a detriment to his mission. The two of them had been through a lot together, though. Even Zim had to admit that Gir had saved his ass from many hairy situations. Destructive as he may be, Gir had proven many times that he could be useful. Besides, if Zim was gonna hole himself up in his base, he wanted to at least have some company.

Zim walked over to the platform and stopped in front of the control panel. He stared at the display, looking over all the maintenance information on Gir's repairs. He punched in a few commands. Suddenly, Gir's body came to life. His eyes and shoulders lit up in that familiar blue hue. The cables he was attached to quickly retracted back into the mechanism. Upon reactivation, Gir smiled wildly and jumped off the platform with a strangely graceful front-flip. He landed on his feet in front of the platform and giggled.

"WHEW! Let's do that again!" Gir shouted with his eyes happily closed. He turned to Zim and asked him seriously, "Is the raccoon okay?" Zim squinted his eyes, his antennae twitched in annoyed confusion.

"Raccoon? What-" Zim shook his head, remembering what had caused the Voot to crash. "Nevermind. Gir! Come here!" He pointed at the floor directly in front of him.

"Okie-dokie!" Gir happily cheered. He jogged over to his master and saluted with a silly grin, his metal tongue hanging out of his mouth. Zim looked at the robot, almost jealous at his blissful ignorance. "What we gon' blow up today, master?" Gir asked loudly. Zim closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Nothing, Gir," Zim responded somewhat mournfully. "We're not going to blow up anything." Gir's eyes widened in shock and disappointment.

"WHAT?" the robot shouted. "But we always go 'splode stuff up on Friday!" Zim opened his mouth to ask him how he knew what day it was if he had been deactivated for so long. He closed it when he remembered that while Gir was arguably crazy, he was still a robot. Of course he'd have an internal clock. As well as, Zim realized, complete details of their 'mission' on Earth.

"Well, we're not going to today," Zim explained. Gir started to tear up. How is it that a robot could actually cry? Zim could never figure that one out.

"But master-"

"Gir," Zim quickly interrupted. "Duty mode." While this got rid of the robot's tears, it didn't have the effect that Zim wanted. Gir immediately began giggling.

"Hehehe, doodie." Zim growled in frustration.

"Duty mode!" He commanded angrily at his robot. "Now!" Immediately upon hearing the command once more, Gir's demeanor changed. He stood straight up and saluted his master. His blue lights flashed to red. His face went from silly glee to an almost angered determination.

"Yes sir!" Gir responded in a lower tone. Zim nodded, pleased that his duty mode functions seemed to still be working properly.

"Gir, state your primary objective," Zim said simply.

"Primary objective is to assist my master in his assigned mission. Blend in with the indigenous life, analyze their weaknesses, and prepare the planet for the coming badness." Gir put a hand behind his back, keeping his other hand on his head in a firm salute. "Yay!" Zim nodded.

"Gir," Zim said in a quiet voice. "Delete your primary objective from your memory banks." Upon hearing this, Gir immediately broke out of duty mode. His eyes turned from red back to his signature baby blue. He cocked his head at his master, looking quite confused.

"Eh, what'd you say?" Gir questioned.

"Delete your primary objective, Gir," Zim repeated. Gir looked at his master, then around the room. His face bore absolute confusion. Zim understood why. He had not yet told Gir what had happened while he was not active. He didn't really want to. Gir probably wouldn't understand anyway. The malfunctioning SIR unit looked at the floor, then back up to his master. Still wearing blue in his eyes and body.

"But I thought you wanted all the humans to go 'splodey?" Gir asked.

"NO MORE QUESTIONS!" Zim screamed at his robot. "DO AS I COMMAND!" Gir stared blankly at Zim. After a few moments, his face brightened up and he smiled.

"'Kay!" Gir exclaimed happily. The robot stood still for a few moments as he wiped his drives. He went back into duty mode once more. "Sir, primary objective deleted. Ready for new primary objective." Zim shrugged.

"Eh, I dunno," the alien said simply. He thought for a moment before continuing. "Keep the base secure. If any filthy humans try to break in, destroy them." Gir nodded and broke out of duty mode once more.

"Caaaan do!" the robot replied. He headed to the elevator. "I'mma go watch TV, 'kay?"

"Sure, Gir. Go ahead."

Zim watched his robot disappear as the elevator doors closed. Zim felt that went well. He didn't have to explain anything, which he was thankful for. He looked back at the Voot to see that Minimoose was staring at him. Its never-ending smile was almost creepy. Zim raised an eye at the moose.

"What?" Zim shot curiously at his creation.

"Nyah!" the moose responded as he always did. Zim sighed as his PAK translated Minimoose's exclamation.

"I'm no longer an Invader," Zim responded. He slumped his shoulders and stared at the ground in shame. "I never was one in the first place."

"Nyeah?" Minimoose questioned.

"I don't know yet," Zim responded. "I haven't quite figured that one out." Minimoose floated in silence for a few moments, its face never changing. It chirped again.

"Nyah!"

Zim paused and gave it some thought. There really wasn't any other option. Well, except the one he had already refused when he was going through his PAK maintenance. However, it wasn't a decision to be made lightly. He would need some time to plan it out. He needed to do some research before even thinking about it. He finally looked back up to the moose and responded to his suggestion.

"I'll have to give it some more thought, but you make a good point Minimoose." Zim, for the first time in a long time, actually smiled. "I really am brilliant if I was able to create you, aren't I?" He turned back to the elevator and called it. After the doors opened, he spoke back to Minimoose once more. "I'll be in the control center. Go to the living room and make sure Gir doesn't do anything stupid."

"Nyah!"

With that, Zim commanded the Computer to send him to his destination. If he was going to do this, he would need to do a few hours of research first.

* * *

"After that, I got up and left. I wasn't about to stick around and see what else Zim might do to me."

Dib had finished relaying his story to his sister, who stared at him with a blank face. She didn't interrupt him once. She merely sat next to Dib, staring at him and taking in what happened. There was nothing else left to tell, so Dib stopped talking. He leaned back into the couch and sighed, making sure to keep the warm rag against his bruised eye. It hurt like hell, but he had to admit that the warm compress was somewhat soothing. After a while, Gaz broke the silence.

"Huh," she said, slightly shocked. "I didn't think the little twerp had it in him." Dib groaned in annoyance. This is what he had been waiting for. But the onslaught of ridicule never came. Instead, Gaz continued. "How's the eye?" she asked. He shrugged at her question.

"Hurts," he said. "My jaw's a pretty sore too, but It'll be fine." Once again, they sat in silence. If Dib didn't know any better, he'd say that Gaz actually sounded concerned. But that didn't sound right. This was Gaz. His horrible violent little sister who loved to torment him. And yet, she had skipped out on school with him. She was trying to help him with his black eye. She was actually listening to him. It was an odd concept for Dib. It wasn't that he thought that Gaz hated him, but he certainly didn't think that she would be willing to help him in a time of need. She never really was in the past.

"So, Zim said he's done trying to take over the world, huh?" Gaz asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Dib nodded, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Uh-huh."

"And... you believe him?" Gaz's voice was wary. Despite not looking at her, he could see her eyebrow raise in suspicion.

"No," Dib said, shaking his head. "At least, I don't think so."

"Then what's got you so bothered?" she demanded. "This isn't the first time Zim tried to hurt you." Dib met Gaz's inquisitive gaze.

"I dunno, this was different," Dib explained. He rubbed his cheek where Zim had landed his first punch. He shuddered at the memory. "You didn't see what happened, Gaz. I've never seen him like that." After a few seconds, Gaz's eyes widened in realization.

"You're scared," she said. It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact. And Dib, despite his desire to deny it, said nothing. Gaz was right, and Dib knew that he would not be able to convince her otherwise. "You've never been scared of Zim," she continued. "Why now?" Dib looked at Gaz and gave her a flat look.

"Well, he did threaten to kill me," Dib said plainly. Gaz cocked her head.

"Doesn't he always do that?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"Aren't you gonna try to figure out what's going on?" Gaz interrupted him. Dib paused at that. He wanted to. Desperately. His curiosity was unmatched. Even if he was afraid of Zim, that didn't stop him from wanting to know what was going on with the alien. If it was something dangerous, Dib knew he had to stop whatever it was.

"I... I don't know," Dib admitted, meekly. "I want to, but if I get caught, I probably won't make it out alive." Gaz waved her hand at him in dismissal.

"Heard that one enough times," She said, rolling her eyes. "It never stopped you before." Dib didn't respond. Gaz jumped off the couch and headed towards the stairs. Dib's eyes followed her movements. Before reaching the stairs, she looked back at Dib. "I'm gonna go play video games," she told him. "You gonna be alright out here?"

"Yeah," Dib nodded. Gaz stared at him for a moment before turning to the stairs. As she started her ascent, Dib called out to her. "Hey Gaz?" His sister stopped halfway up the stairs and turned to look at him. "Why are you acting so nice to me?" Gaz's face grimaced a bit at the question, almost as if it was painful for her to even hear it being spoken. Through gritted teeth and a low voice, Gaz responded to her brother.

"You and I may not have the rosiest relationship, Dib. But you're still my brother." She continued up the stairs. As she reached the top, she yelled back down to Dib in her usual harsh tone. "Just don't get used to it. I've got a reputation at school I need to uphold."

Dib stared up at the ceiling and heard a door close from somewhere upstairs. He was absolutely shell-shocked. He had never seen his sister act even the slightest bit compassionate towards him. Her tone of voice may have been harsh, but her choice of words said everything. She may as well have hugged him and said that she loved him. Dib smiled and chuckled in amusement.

"Well, I'll be," he muttered to himself.

* * *

Not too far away from the atmosphere of Jupiter, a lone makeshift spacecraft flew towards the center of the star system. It wasn't exactly high tech. In fact, it wasn't even technically a ship. It was merely an escape pod that had been heavily modified over the course of several years. It took a hell of a lot of time and effort to make it space worthy. Hopefully, it had been worth it. All that time spent on that miserable rock in the Andromeda system had better pay off. There were a surprising number of resources for a planet that was completely unmarked. Enough to not only survive, but to cobble together something that could fly through the stars. Well, maybe not for too long. Hopefully, it would last at least long enough to reach its destination.

It had been weeks of travel, and the makeshift spaceship was getting closer. It had already passed by several of the planets in the so-called Milky Way. At the speed it was going, it should reach that dreadful planet in a matter of hours. Inside, the pilot of the death trap sat in anticipation. The display was currently showing a map of the Milky Way system, as well as the ship's current position. Things seemed to be going well, so far. They were on course, with no major hiccups. However, the incredibly rickety nature of the craft was somewhat unnerving.

Worried about the durability of the ship, the pilot punched in a few commands and brought up the ship's diagnostics.

_ERROR: DEFLECTOR SHIELD PROTOCOL NOT FOUND_

That was no surprise, considering this thing was never meant to be piloted.

_ERROR: ARMADA CONNECTION NOT FOUND_

Again, no surprise. The escape pod did have a computer of its own to track the status of the pod, as well as make transmissions when needed. Unfortunately, many of its features were destroyed far past the point of being repairable when...

The pilot hissed in anger at the memory. Revenge can't come soon enough. Wanting to be sure that the pod wasn't on the verge of falling apart, the pilot skipped through the rest of the information. The pilot's eyes stopped when fell upon the last two lines.

_ENGINE STATUS: STABLE_

_FUEL SUPPLY: 15%_

Well, that was only somewhat reassuring. At least the ship had enough fuel. Probably. Hopefully.

The pilot switched back to the map, eyes keen on the destination. Earth. It wasn't far now. The pilot turned and looked behind the cockpit chair. Sitting there, in pieces, was a SIR unit. It was the only way, unfortunately. The damn thing was malfunctioning. It had to have been. The only way to stop it from killing both of them was to dismantle it by force. It hurt immensely to do so, but there was no choice. Surely the SIR unit would understand once it was fixed. After all, it held a loyalty that was unbreakable. A powerful bond that was shared between both of them. The humans called it being friends. The pilot refused to use such terms on a SIR unit, but could not deny that it was upsetting to know that the unit was not currently functioning. Especially considering how lonely space could be.

The pilot sighed mournfully at the sight of her destroyed SIR unit.

"Don't worry Mimi," she reassured. "Once we reach Earth and eliminate that pest, I'll have you up and running again in no time."

Tak turned back to the window and stared out into space. It won't be long.


	4. Chapter 4

Red was getting anxious.

He had spent most of his time after the attack walking around the Massive. He wouldn't be able to see the full extent of the damage until the reports came in, but he at least wanted to see first hand what was going on. Most of the ship had thankfully been left intact, but there were plenty of areas that needed extensive repairs. Thousands of Irkens ran every which way, clearing debris and transporting injured or dead bodies. It was almost chaotic. Red had never seen such panic from his people before. Many of them were not used to combat. After all, they practically lived on the Massive, and no one dared to try to attack the huge ship. Well, no one but the Resisty apparently. After many passes throughout the ship, Red decided he had enough. He went to his quarters, performed his PAK maintenance, and went back to join his partner to wait for the full damage report.

Currently, he and Purple were in the communications room. Their usual crew went about their posts, keeping track of the Massive and the Armada. Red sighed, his arms crossed. He tapped his fingers in annoyance. It had been well over twenty-four hours now. What could be taking them so long? He fidgeted in his stance, unease plaguing his body. He felt Purple give him a light punch on the shoulder.

"Hey, take it easy," Purple told his partner, smiling. It seemed the attack had not affected Purple in the same way it did Red. "You're acting like we're already dead or something," Purple added.

"Mmn." Red hummed, not really paying attention to his co-Tallest. His mind was pre-occupied with many concerns. Not just the attack, but also the call they had received from Zim.

Before he could go down that mental path, his thoughts were interrupted by an Irken General walking into the room. He was slightly taller than your usual Irken soldier, wearing a black suit with red trim to indicate his rank. He was a rather gruff Irken, his face scarred from his many battles. Red remembered him. His name was General Nol. The general had gone through basic training around the same time as Red and Purple. While he was never as tall as the Almighty Tallest, he certainly had skills. But more importantly, he had a knack for strategy and logistics. He walked in front of the Tallest and gave a firm salute.

"My Tallest," he said firmly. "We have finished our damage report and have uploaded our findings into the system." He lowered his hand behind his back. Red sighed in relief.

"Finally," he said. He looked up to a few crew members and gave them a hand signal. They immediately began tapping away at their consoles to read through the reports. Red turned back to General Nol. "We can pour over the details later, just give me a quick overview." The general nodded.

"Of course," General Nol said. He walked up to the control panel next to the Tallest and reached his hand over. "May I?" he asked. Red nodded and backed away. Purple followed suit, moving behind General Nol to get a good view of the holographic display. After tapping away at the controls, the huge display activated. It showed the full flight plan of the Armada. The general cleared his throat and started his debriefing.

"We first became aware of a problem when there was an explosion somewhere on the starboard side of the Massive," he said. He tapped at the console, and the display showed a line ending in a circle, indicating a sizeable area of ships next to the Massive. "We weren't sure what had happened at first, but now we know that one of our ships had been shot down." Red perked up. Normally he would keep quiet and let the general continue uninterrupted, but he was immediately bothered and felt the need to speak up.

"How?" Red demanded. "How exactly was a fighter able to breach our defenses in the first place? We have scouting ships and tracking equipment for a reason!" Nol didn't seem surprised by Red's outburst. He merely nodded.

"Not just one fighter, my Tallest," he said. "But a couple dozen. We have determined that in total, thirty-two enemy ships were confirmed to be destroyed by our defenses. We are not sure exactly how many were able to get away, if any were able to at all." Nol made a few swipes at the console and make a few drawings on the display. Just outside the shield of Irken fighters on the starboard side of the Massive, a bunch of crude drawings of enemy ships appeared. The three dimensional view of the display shifted, showing the enemy ships in a pyramid formation. "Almost all of them were in a grouped up in this formation, attacking this side of the fleet. After the first shot was fired from one of the resistance ships, the rest joined in." Red closed his eyes in confusion. This didn't make any sense at all. There's no way that many ships could come that close to the Armada without setting off _some_ kind of alarm. Hell, with a formation like that, you'd have to be absolutely blind not to see it coming if you were piloting one of the supporting ships in the Armada's fleet.

"So how were they able to get around our defenses? And how were you not able to track those that got away?" Red asked.

"Our radar systems never picked up any enemy ships," the general explained, starting to pace back and forth between the Tallest. "We theorize that they were using a form of radar jamming that we are unfamiliar with. Along with that, their ships had cloaking technology, rendering them invisible to our fleet." Red felt a chill go down his back. This was major. The Armada now had a clear vulnerability in its defenses. The general continued. "Whatever cloaking technology they were using, it wasn't very efficient. Not long after they had started the firefight, their cloaking systems went down. They probably didn't have enough power on their ships to support both their cloaking systems and their weaponry."

"Man," Purple jumped in. "These guys were suicidal! What kind of nutjob attacks a fleet of thousands of ships with only a few dozen losers who can't even keep themselves hidden?" The general faced back towards the display and tapped at the console. The image shifted, showing a large portion of ships around the Massive converging onto the firefight. Nol pointed up at the display.

"Once the firefight had started," Nol explained, "we focused most of our fighters onto the enemy targets. Unfortunately, their cloaking held up long enough to take out a significant portion of our fleet. We lost eighty fighters, twenty-three fuelers, and almost a hundred miscellaneous support ships. A full breakdown of fleet losses is in the damage report." That was a lot of ships, Red thought. They were going to require reinforcements from Irk to compensate for the losses. Nol continued.

"The initial wave of enemy fighters were successfully taken out once their cloaking systems went down. Unfortunately, we think the Resisty already knew we would focus our ships on their fighters." Nol then looked directly at Purple to answer his earlier statement. "This very well may have been a suicide attack." Nol continued working at the command console, bringing up four more enemy ships on the opposite side of the Massive. He pointed at the four ships. They all had a clear view of the Massive from where they were. Given that many of the Armada's fighters left their posts to take care of the initial attack, there were very few barriers between them and the Massive. "Most likely, these four ships started their assault once our fighters left their posts. And it was these four ships that attempted to take out the Massive." The four ships on the display split off to different parts of the Massive. Sections of the Massive where the ships headed to were highlighted in red.

Nol continued, "These sections were their targets. The snack supply was damaged heavily. Their energy weapons were surprisingly powerful. They were able to cause a breach in the walls of the snack bay. We lost around fifteen percent of our food supply before we were able to seal the breach."

"NO!" Purple shouted in misery, tearing up. "Not the snacks!" Red eyed his partner and shook his head. He might like snacks too, but there were more important things to dwell on.

"Look on the bright side," Red said, trying to calm his partner down. "We may have lost some snacks, but we also have less Irkens to feed so it kind of evens out." Red paused, realizing what he just said. Purple stared incredulously at his partner.

"Man, you're _cold,_" Purple whispered.

"Yeah, that came out a little darker than I intended," Red said sheepishly.

"If I may continue, My Tallest," Nol said somewhat impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground. He pointed to the front of the Armada which held the command center. "One of the ships was attempting to take this area out with a charged weapon. Luckily, we were able to catch it as it's cloaking device gave out. It was swiftly destroyed before it was able to attack." The display shifted once more to the rear of the Armada. Specifically, it highlighted the engine system, and the two large thrusters that powered the ship's flight. Irken text surrounded the display, pointing at each fusion thruster. The general continued his explanation.

"The other two enemy ships focused their attacks on the Massive's thrusters. They were unable to completely destroy them before being taken out, but the damage they inflicted is significant." The display zoomed in on the two large thrusters positioned below the Massive on either side. "We were forced to shut down the port-side thruster due to severed coolant injectors." The display focused in on the thruster on the right side of the ship. "The thruster on the starboard side was damaged significantly. It is repairable, but it will take time to fix." Red sighed. He knew exactly what this meant, and he didn't like it one bit.

"We're sitting ducks," Red pointed out. His partner nodded in agreement.

"How long until we can get moving again?" Purple asked. General Nol's face shifted uncomfortably.

"Theoretically, it shouldn't take long to fix the coolant injectors. The problem is the starboard thruster." Nol shifted the display to a new screen. On it was a complete blueprint of the Massive. He zoomed in on the ship where the engine bays were located. Each thruster had its own dedicated engine room. The room for the starboard engine was shown on screen. Nol highlighted a wall near the main engine with a circle. "The attack on the engine caused a breach in the room. Currently, no one is able to enter the room without being ripped apart by the change in pressure." Nol pointed at the entrance of the room. "We have the room completely sealed off with an emergency air lock system. We need to seal the breach from the outside before we can work on the thruster." Nol closed out of the blueprints, bringing up the Armada's flight plan once more. "Given the extent of the damage, the incoming reinforcements from Irk, and the required repairs to the Massive, we're estimating at least one hundred hours before the fleet can continue."

Red closed his eyes in frustration. That was one hundred hours where the Massive was completely vulnerable to an attack. And he was sure there would be another one in the future.

"Do we have _any _idea where these guys originated from?" Red asked Nol. "I know they're Resisty, but we still don't know where they're operating." Nol shook his head.

"I'm sorry sir," he said. "As I said before, we were unable to track any ships that may have gotten away."

"What about the ship types?" Red pleaded desperately. "Call signs? Radio traffic? Come on, give me something to work with here." Nol just sadly shook his head.

"No sir, these ships were unmarked. Unknown. Radio silent. We have no idea who manufactured them, nor where they could have come from."

"We should have tried to capture one," Red sighed in regret. The adrenaline at the time kept him from thinking of such a plan. The only thing he could think about at the time was to destroy any threats before things got too ugly. "We may have been able to get some intel."

"We have cargo ships scoping out the area for any salvageable tech," Nol tried to reassure Red. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure if we'll find much since our ships tore through them once they had visual. I'll keep you updated."

"See that you do," Red said. He looked back up at the display, which still showed the Armada flight plan. "Also, I want you to send out more scouts. Spread them out wide. If they get a visual on any non-Irken ships, I want them taken out. No exceptions." General Nol gave them a firm salute.

"Yes, sir!" he shouted confidently. "Anything else?" Red pondered for a moment, bringing a hand to his chin.

"Have someone guarding the communications room," Red said. Purple looked at him curiously. "No one gets in or out until we say so, got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

With that, General Nol made his way outside the communications room. The door shut, and the Tallest were left alone with their personnel. They had been there since before the attack had started. Their shifts should have been relieved long ago, but circumstances forced them to stay for the time being. This was actually a good thing, as Red needed to address something to all of them. Purple tapped at his shoulder.

"What was that all about?" He asked Red, accusingly. "What's with keeping us under lock?" Red ignored him. This wouldn't take long, anyways. He turned to the many Irkens at their posts. He held out his chest to project his voice.

"Listen up!" Red shouted. All of the crew immediately stood at attention. They saluted their Tallest. Red continued. "I'm sure you all remember the call we received recently from Zim."

"Really?" Purple said, sounding a bit annoyed. "This is about Zim? _Really?_" Red smacked his elbow into his partner, who gave a pained groan in response.

"I am declaring everything in that call as classified," Red explained. "Absolutely no one outside of this room is to learn of the call, or its contents." He narrowed his eyes and gave a dangerous glare to his underlings. "Be warned. Should information about the call spread to anyone, you will _all _be sent to Judgementia for an Existence Evaluation." He pointed an accusing finger at his crew. "There is no hiding from the Control Brains. If you disobey our orders, they _will _know and you _will _be terminated." Red paused for a moment to look over his crew. Their expressions didn't waver. They were confident. Proud. Loyal. If they were nervous at all about Red's threat, they didn't show it. "From this moment forward, Zim will be declared as killed in action. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my Tallest," came the shouts of the crew members. Loud, confident, and in unison. Red nodded, happy with their response.

"Good." He turned to Purple, who was staring at him with a baffled face. Red signaled his head to him, shaking it towards the exit of the room. Purple, still confused, began heading towards the door. Red looked back to his crew. "We will be in our private quarters. We are not to be bothered unless it is an extreme emergency." The crew gave another salute and returned to their work. Red and Purple left and headed towards their quarters in silence. Upon entering their room, Purple closed the door and immediately began to question his partner.

"Alright Red, what the hell is going on with you?" Purple questioned. "Why are you so worried about Zim of all Irkens?" Purple plopped himself down on a nearby couch, imported straight from Vort. Red paced back and forth, eyeing Purple curiously.

"Purple, do you know what a Defective is?" he asked. Purple rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Of course," he answered, sounding offended. "What, do you think I'm stupid?"

"Do you know why we terminate Defectives?"

"So they don't infect the hive, yeah I get it." Purple waved his hand dismissively at Red. "But this is Zim we're talking about," he instisted. "Everyone already knows he's a moron, I don't think they'd be surprised to learn that he's Defective." Red shook his head.

"Maybe not," he said. "But they sure as hell would be surprised that he defied our orders and defected from the Irken Empire."

"And why does that matter?" Purple said, shrugging.

"Even a Defective Irken will remain loyal to the Empire," Red said. He continued pacing back and forth. "Under normal circumstances, anyway. But Zim's case is anything but normal." He stopped his pacing, staring at nothing in particular. "He denied a direct order. He insulted his superiors. He chose to leave the Irken Empire on his own will." He turned back to Purple and walked up to the couch. "Do you have any idea how that will look if word of that gets out?" Purple shrugged.

"I guess," he said. "But you know how loyal our people are to us. You really think that learning of Zim's disobedience would damage their loyalty?"

"No," Red said, shaking his head. "But the potential thoughts could infect their PAKs and create even more Defectives. It could spiral out of control if we don't stop it before it starts. Our whole social structure could collapse. Operation Impending Doom II could be in danger." Red looked away from Purple towards one of the windows. He stared out to space for a moment and scoffed. "Not to mention we don't know what Zim might do in retaliation to finding out his true nature."

"Oh please, that tiny runt against us?" Purple shouted in disbelief. He threw his hands out in exasperation. "He'd get incinerated before our radars even pick him up."

"You're forgetting that he has information downloaded directly from the Massive," Red said, turning back to Purple. "We don't know how much he was able to gather, or what he plans to do with that information. What if he gives it up to the Resisty?" Purple shook his head.

"No way, he wouldn't dare. He said he wouldn't interfere."

"Yeah, and I don't really believe him."

Red took a seat on the couch next to Purple and leaned back. He sighed, trying to relax. He could feel his PAK going into overdrive trying to manage his stress levels. There was just way too much going on for his liking. In all his years being a Tallest, he had never had to deal with so much work. Things had been going fairly smooth up until the Resisty's attack. Now, the fate of their galactic conquest was in jeopardy. Not just galactic conquest, but the well-being of the Irken Empire as a whole was at risk.

Red was actually glad that Zim had managed to cut all connections from his base to the Massive. He didn't want the Defect's tainted PAK information contaminating anything in the Armada. He wasn't actually sure if Zim would try to harm the Irken Empire, but it was too risky to just ignore the problem. They had absolutely no way of monitoring Zim or planet Earth. Not without sending scouts, anyways. And that just wasn't an option. It would take far too long for them to reach Earth, anyway. After some silence, Purple spoke up.

"Are you suggesting we go to Earth?" he asked. Red didn't look at him. He thought about the answer for a moment. He shook his head.

"I'd really rather not do that," Red said. "We're already delayed enough as it is. Earth is just way too far out of the way, and we have a schedule we need to stick to. Otherwise, we'd need to spend a few weeks reorganizing plans to meet with all the Invaders of the currently conquested planets."

"So what do we do?" Purple asked. "Should we go to the Control Brains?"

"Not yet," Red said. "We need to focus on getting the Armada back in fighting form, first. We still need to go over the full damage report. The Control Brains can wait until we're not in danger of being destroyed while we're sitting here in open space."

The two didn't continue their conversation. They sat in the chair in silence, trying to relax a little bit. Purple seemed to be okay, but Red's PAK was still desperately working to keep him calm. Red wished he could just render himself unconscious for another PAK maintenance, but he knew he had to remain active as much as possible in case there was another attack. As he said before, the Massive was a sitting duck. They could be attacked at any time, and Red didn't want to be out if that happened. There was still the full damage report to look over, but that could wait a little bit. Their officers and commanders could manage the reinforcement and repair operations for now.

At the moment, all Red wanted to do was relax and not think.

Easier said than done.

* * *

**"PROXIMITY WARNING: PLANET AHEAD"**

The electronic tone of Tak's quasi-space ship caught her attention. She opened her tired eyes and shot her vision to the cockpit window.

"There it is, Mimi," she said towards her dismantled SIR unit. The control console flashed the word "Earth" over a picture of the planet. They were so close. They would be entering the atmosphere any minute now. "We're almost there. Soon."

She didn't say anymore. She continued staring at the planet that was steadily growing bigger as she flew closer. She almost couldn't believe she was finally heading back to this horrible planet. She had been planning this for years. Ever since she wound up on that planet in the Andromeda system, she had been playing this out in her mind.

She was going to return to Earth. The very first thing on the list was to pay Zim a visit. That infernal alien had ruined her life. And when she finally had a chance to prove herself to her Tallest, he ruined that to. Before, it really wasn't about revenge. All she wanted was to become an Invader. Her snack plan would gave surely pleased the Tallest and convinced them to assign her to a new planet. Ruining Zim's fake mission was just an added bonus. But now, well, now it _was _about revenge. She was going to destroy Zim. She was going to take over his base, so she could make contact with the Armada. Hopefully, the Tallest would be pleased if she were to eliminate Zim. Maybe she wouldn't get an Invader position, but at least they might not send her back to Dirt to become a janitorial drone once more. She would then steal Zim's incredibly outdated Voot Cruiser and leave Earth for good. Finally, before she left for the Armada, she would destroy this miserable planet. The destruction of the planet would bring the destruction of her memories as a failure. Hopefully.

She didn't have much in terms of equipment. Hell, her holo-disguise had long been busted. All she had was her broken SIR unit, a shaky escape pod that had been modified to be a questionably flyable space ship, and a single plasma pistol. Other than that, she had nothing. Despite that, she was completely confident in her abilities. She wasn't Zim. She actually had what it takes to be an Invader. She may not have much equipment to help her in her endeavor, but she didn't need much anyways. She knew she was stealthy enough to avoid detection from the humans. They were unbelievably stupid anyways, so there wasn't much worry there.

However, there was the problem of Zim's base defenses. She knew a decent amount of his base plan thanks to that human Dib, but that information was many years out of date. Who knew what Zim had done in the years that have passed to improve his defenses? Sure, the little worm was rather moronic, but surely he would at least have enough common sense to patch any holes in his security that would come up. After all, he did have to deal with Dib on a regular basis.

The time that had passed since her last visit brought up another issue. Zim was incompetent to the point of absurdity. It wasn't implausible to think that he may have finally been caught by the humans. If that were the case, what would she do then? She really didn't know. If Zim was captured, that would most likely mean that his base had been seized as well. She needed his base to locate and contact the Tallest. If the humans had gotten a hold of it, things could get complicated.

There were so many variables. As she grew closer to the planet's atmosphere, she began to worry about what might happen when she landed. She desperately hoped that Zim was still there. That his base was still there. That no one would question an unidentified flying object landing on Earth. That she wouldn't somehow be caught by the humans. As she felt her stress levels rise, she heard a beep come from her PAK as it attempted to manage her emotions.

After a moment, it beeped again. Three times in quick succession. She was familiar with this by now. Three beeps meant it was long overdue for PAK maintenance. She hadn't gone through one for a few months now. Her escape pod was fitted with one, but it was in dire need of repairs and debugging. She did not have the means of keeping it working. Despite this, she wasn't too worried. Her PAK was crucial for maintaining her vitals and emotions. Thankfully, those functions would continue working for a long time even without any PAK maintenance. However, it hindered its ability to keep her energy levels high. For a few weeks now, she could feel her body growing a bit tired. Of course, sitting in a death trap she called a ship for as long as she had can leave anyone exhausted. But until she had her PAK working at full capacity, she would most likely continue to feel sluggish.

The lack of maintenance also hindered the PAK's ability to administer medical treatment. That wasn't necessarily a problem now, but it could definitely become a problem after she landed. If she found herself in trouble, a fire fight would be incredibly risky. If her body sustained any damage, her PAK would not be able to properly administer treatment. She needed to get to Zim's base as soon as possible.

**"WARNING: ENTERING PLANET ATMOSPHERE"**

"This is it," Tak said to herself. Her body locked up in anticipation and she gripped the command console. Through the window, she could see the white-hot friction all around the ship as it tore through the Earth's atmosphere. The ship began shaking. She took a deep breath and held it, desperately hoping the ball of junk would hold up.

Then she heard a small explosion and the ship quaked violently.

"Ah!" Tak shouted in surprise. Had she not been wearing the safety belt, she would have been thrown from her seat. Pieces of Mimi rattled around the tiny cockpit. A few of the parts smacked Tak in her arms. The cockpit lights went red. A loud, high-pitched beeping was heard.

**"WARNING: ENGINE ONE FAILURE"**

"No," Tak almost whispered.

**"WARNING: ENGINE TWO OVERHEATING"**

The ship began to spin.

**"WARNING: ENGINE THREE OVERHEATING"**

"NO!" Tak screamed.

**"WARNING: AUTO-PILOT DISENGAGED"**

Tak immediately punched a command into the console, which brought up the manual control sticks. She grabbed onto them tightly and desperately jammed them every which way. As she tried wrestling the ship back into control, the spinning slowed. She shouted out in a desperate plea.

"Computer! Increase coolant levels to engines two and three NOW!"

**"COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED"**

She felt another explosion.

**"WARNING: ENGINE TWO FAILURE"**

"Damn it, NO!" The ship began spinning faster, despite Tak's attempts to control its violent trajectory. Her PAK was constantly beeping, sensing her utter distress. The loud whirring of her PAK indicated it was being pushed to its limit. It was doing absolutely everything it could to manage her fear. With few options left, she had to pull one hell of a risky move. "Computer, shut down engine three! Activate the emergency landing thrusters!"

**"WARNING: FUEL RESERVES LOW, CONFIRM COMMAND"**

"JUST DO IT!" Tak screamed at the top of her lungs.

**"COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED"**

She heard the engine shut down as the emergency thrusters were deployed. She grabbed at the control sticks once more to position them. She had to stop the spinning. After a few moments, the ship straightened out. That didn't stop the violent plummet towards Earth. She repositioned the thrusters to face perpendicular to the trajectory of the ship, trying to slow down its ascent. The ship began to slow down ever so slightly. She looked out the window of the ship. She estimated that she was about fifteen miles above the surface of the Earth. She had broken through the atmosphere. Now she had to find a way to land the craft in the safest manner possible.

Unfortunately, that might not be an option.

**"WARNING: FUEL RESERVES DEPLETED"**

The emergency landing thrusters sputtered. The alarms of the ship intensified. The ship lurched violently and plummeted towards the ground.

This was it, she was going to die.

She wasn't going to get her revenge. She wasn't going to be able to go back to Irk, or the Armada. She wasn't going to be commended by her Almighty Tallest for eliminating Zim. If she didn't die upon crashing into Earth, she would surely die by the hands of the humans via a live dissection. Somehow she thought even the idiotic humans would be smart enough to see an unidentified flying object violently crashing into someone's back yard. The velocity of the ship increased. Tak tightened her seatbelt and gripped the command console tightly. She screamed in fear. She could see the surface of the Earth growing larger at an alarming pace.

She wondered if dying hurt. She was about to find out.

* * *

Dib had been laying on the couch since that morning. He didn't really feel like moving at all. If he was going to skip school, he figured he might as well go all out and be as lazy as he could possibly be. So, he spent most of his day watching television while his sister played her video games in her room. She had come out every once in a while to grab a soda, each time taking a glance at Dib. They didn't really talk. He figured she was just checking to make sure he was okay.

Which was a really weird thought, considering this was Gaz.

Along with watching television, he spent his time thinking about Zim. He periodically checked his security footage, never finding anything interesting. He did see Gir finally make an appearance in the footage. The little dog robot thing was watching television, as he usually did. Dib wondered why Zim kept Gir around. After all, the robot seemed to be a huge burden on the alien.

_"For years, the world has wondered, 'Are there aliens among us?' But we here at Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery have always known the answer to this question. And that answer is a resounding 'maybe.'"_

Dib sat up at the sound of his favorite show playing on the television. It had long been canceled, but it was still an entertaining watch. If the guide was to be believed, it was a rerun of The Blotch. He groaned and shut the television off. That episode was absolute garbage. After people started investigating when the episode first aired, it was found that 'The Blotch' was just a mentally handicapped man that people started worshipping for seemingly no reason. Maybe Zim was right. Maybe humanity really _is _stupid.

With nothing to do now, his thoughts focused on Zim. Was he really not going to take over the Earth? Dib doubted it in his gut, but the alien sure as hell was pretty convincing. He lightly brushed his black eye to check the damage.

Yep, still swollen. The warm rag had definitely helped, though.

If Zim really was giving up, then why? What would drive him to give up on his mission? Had he been reassigned? Fired, maybe? Or had something major happened within the Irken Empire? Dib couldn't get these questions out of his head. He needed to know, otherwise it was going to drive him crazy. Trying to find out would be highly dangerous. He knew he would have to break into Zim's lab to gain information. And that idea wasn't very appealing.

Still, he had to do something other than sit on his ass and let himself go crazy.

Making his decision, he headed upstairs to his room. He walked inside and closed the door. Opening his closet, he fished out a few outfits before he found what he was looking for. It was a new sneaking suit. It would render the wearer completely invisible to the naked eye. Not just that, but it supposedly would also avoid being picked up by any tracking systems. This included thermal and motion detection systems. Dib wasn't entirely sure if it worked. He knew the stealth function worked, but he had never given it a proper field test. He had no idea how it would fare against Irken technology.

Well, what better time then now to test the suit out?

After suiting up, he walked over to his mirror and activated the stealth function. Pleased that he could not see himself in the mirror, he gave himself a hardened nod and shut off the stealth. He walked over to his dresser and pulled out one of the drawers. Inside were many different recording devices, cameras, and other gadgets he had used over his years of spying on Zim. He went to grab one of the cameras before hesitating.

Bringing a camera might be a bad idea. If he was caught, he wouldn't want to have anything on him that would indicate a malicious intent. Of course, it might not matter. Dib knew Zim was absolutely serious when the alien threatened to kill him. Still, it doesn't hurt to at least try to seem innocent. Grabbing nothing, he closed the drawer and headed out of his room. When he reached the stairs, he stopped at the sound of a voice.

"You're going to Zim's again, aren't you?" Gaz asked from behind him. He turned to his sister and was greeted with her neutral expression. She stared at him expectantly. She wasn't holding her signature Game Slave. She had her arms crossed.

Dib nodded, "Yeah, I am." Gaz shook her head.

"You're an idiot. You know that?" Dib nodded again.

"Yeah, I know."

Neither one said anything. They stood in the awkward silence for who knows how long. Gaz walked up to Dib and lightly put a hand on his shoulder. Despite her earlier compassion, this was a shock to Dib. She may not show it in her face, but he could tell she was worried. She furrowed her brow. Not in anger, Dib thought, but in worry. She opened her mouth, as if to say something. She seemed to lose her words. Dib felt the need to break the silence. He sighed.

"Gaz, if I don't-"

"Lemme know what happens when you get back," Gaz insisted. Dib stared at her. He understood exactly what she meant. He smiled and grabbed her hand, taking it off his shoulder.

"Yeah, sure," Dib said quietly. "I'll see you later."

With that, he headed down the stairs and bolted out the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter this time around. That's what happens when you split up one chapter into two. Sorry to keep you all waiting. I hope you enjoy it. Lemme know what you think in the comments

**CHAPTER FOUR  
**

Dib walked briskly through the streets of his hometown. The street lamps pierced the darkness of the night with their eerie glow. Several houses were lit up inside, indicating activity within them. Dib could hear a muffled musical beat from inside one of the houses, as well as indistinguishable voices from an apparent party that was in full swing.

He continued his path towards Zim's base. He knew the route better than the back of his own hand. As he grew closer to the cul-de-sac, he activated his stealth suit. In an instant, his body was rendered completely invisible. Satisfied that the suit was working, Dib pressed on. He entered the cul-de-sac and stared directly at Zim's house. He felt his heart drop, feeling nervous about what was to come. While the magazine he had ordered the suit from had claimed to get around many different types of tracking systems, it certainly didn't list any unknown alien technology in its specifications. Dib was going to have to find that out the hard way.

He stopped in the street, directly in the middle of the circle of houses. Worried thoughts began to plague his mind. What if the suit didn't work against Zim's security defenses? He was going to need an escape plan. Unfortunately, Dib did not know the inner workings of Zim's base enough to formulate one. If he was caught, the only thing Dib could do would be to run away as fast as possible. He didn't want to face the wrath of Zim. Not after yesterday. Not after his threat. Was it really worth risking his life just to find out what's going on with Zim? He considered turning around and going back home.

No, he couldn't. Thinking about it, Dib reasoned that he had already been risking his life for five years. He never let any worries like this keep him from sabotaging the alien's attempts at world domination. Zim may have told Dib that he gave up his mission, but that wasn't exactly easy to believe. It seemed that Zim's entire purpose in life was his mission. He must have been lying to keep Dib away from his base. And even if the alien was telling the truth, that didn't mean he wasn't still a danger to humanity. If Dib didn't do anything, what would stop Zim from just completely annihilating all life on Earth? The alien certainly had the means to pull off such a feat. And if he had given up on his mission, he might even have the motive to actually do it.

Convinced that this was the right thing to do, Dib steeled himself and walked up to Zim's house. He stopped at the fence and took a look at the security gnomes. Interestingly, they were still inactive. Dib could see his EMP devices sill attached. That was odd. Surely Zim knew about the devices. Why didn't he fix the gnomes? Did he forget about them? Dib raised an eyebrow in thought and shrugged to himself. He reasoned that this was Zim he was thinking about. The alien may be dangerous, but he was also quite foolish. Forgetting to patch a security flaw definitely sounded like something Zim would do.

Dib actually wasn't happy that they were still inactive. The gnomes practically acted as security cameras. Not just cameras, but also lethal defense drones. They had the means to track any potential threat to Zim's base, visual or otherwise. The gnomes would have been a great initial test of his stealth suit's features. If they were to detect him, Dib would at least have a more than decent chance of getting away before anything nasty happened. Now he was going to be forced to test the suit inside Zim's home. Dib shook his head in mild frustration.

He quietly snuck up to the window on the left. He looked inside to get an overview of what he was walking into. He could see Gir sitting on the couch, presumably watching television. He could hear the loud volume of the television blaring from within the house. He also spotted Zim's weird floating moose thing hovering next to Gir. Dib shuddered, knowing the terrifying power the moose had hidden under its cute and innocent appearance. That thing could launch a goddamn rocket at Dib if it spotted the human. Still, it was really the only way he could test his suit. If that little robot and that creepy floating moose didn't detect him, he figured he would be safe from the base's defenses. And if they caught him, well, Dib hoped he would be able to run away before anything exploded or something. He put a hand on the window.

_Please, please be unlocked. _Dib thought desperately.

Going through the door would be suicide. He hoped the loud television inside would drown out the sound of opening the window. He gently pushed up on the window. He let out a quiet breath of relief when it slowly began to open. He stared directly at Gir and Minimoose, ready to bolt out of there at the slightest indication that they knew he was there. As he slowly and carefully slid the window open, neither of Zim's lackeys turned towards him. Gir was currently laughing at whatever he was watching. Minimoose continued to float, innocently watching the television. The window was open. Dib carefully hoisted himself up and entered Zim's house, desperately not trying to make too much noise as his feet reached the floor.

Glad that Gir and Minimoose had not yet detected him, he slowly tip-toed his way towards the kitchen. There were several elevators hidden somewhere that could take him further down inside the base. Unfortunately, the only one he knew of was the fake toilet. He had gone down that one back when they were trying to stop Tak from destroying Earth. It had led to what Dib could only assume to be some kind of Irken computer. Dib knew that he would be unable to use the computer. Not only would the base's computer AI probably detect him trying to use the console, but Dib just didn't know how to read Irken. Still, it was the only lead he had.

He stopped walking right before he reached the couch. Gir and Minimoose continued focusing on the television. So far, so good. Wanting to be sure that the suit would work against Irken technology, Dib stepped out in front of the two lackeys to block their view from the television. He waved his arms in the air, trying to get their attention. Neither of them responded. Dib then walked closer and stood directly in front of Gir, watching for any kind of reaction. Suddenly, the robot started giggling.

"Hehehe, the monkey slapped his butt!" Gir shouted gleefully.

"Nyeh!" Minimoose responded.

The suit clearly worked. Either that, or Zim's minions were malfunctioning. Either way, Dib pressed on. He headed into the kitchen where the fake toilet was. Slightly disgusted, he stepped into the toilet and found himself standing on a platform below it. He looked at the flusher on the toilet, then back to Zim's minions sitting on the couch. The television blasted monkey noises and cartoonish explosions. Dib closed his eyes and pressed the flusher.

The platform immediately descended. Once Dib's body was clear from the confines of the toilet, a glass panel materialized in front of him. Metal walls raised from the platform. Machines above him fastened a ceiling directly onto the top of the elevator. Once the elevator capsule was complete, it continued its descent into the depths of Zim's base. All around Dib were tons of metal cables and tubes, each one's purpose unknown. Anxiety tore through Dib. He was here. Inside Zim's base. And who knows where Zim was.

Once the elevator reached the computer room, he found out.

His heart dropped when he saw the Irken Invader at the computer console. On screen was a bunch of unknown Irken text. Zim stood at the center platform, staring intently at the display. The platform was surrounded by a series of metal cables. It had two metal bridges attached. On the other side of one bridge seemed to be another elevator platform. The other bridge was connected to where Dib's elevator was headed.

This wasn't good. The elevator was almost whisper quiet, but he was certain that once it reached the floor, it would make some sort of noise. Noise that would probably attract Zim's attention. He immediately shot his hand towards the control console, ready to send the elevator back up as soon as it hit the ground.

Surprisingly, the elevator made next to no sound when it reached its destination. The alien didn't seem to notice the intruder. He was too busy typing away on the console. The display shifted to more text, which Zim stood there and read. Dib held his breath. The glass wall of the elevator vanished without a sound. He was frozen in worry. Dib stared at Zim, waiting for him to make a reaction. Ready to immediately send the elevator back up and get the hell out of there. But there was no reaction from the Irken Invader.

Dib slowly and silently walked out of the elevator and stood just outside the entrance. Zim was clearly too busy doing... whatever it was that he was doing. Dib looked up at the screen. He may not be able to read Irken text, but maybe he could piece together something from the images that were shown. In the top left of the wall of text, a planet was pictured. It was a mostly deep blue planet of unknown origin.

"Hmm," Dib heard Zim him in thought. Zim shook his head and swiped his hand over the console. The screen shifted to a new planet, once again surrounded in Irken text. Zim flipped through a few different pages, each one showing a different planet. What was he up to? Dib surmised that he must be researching other planets, but why? Were these planets that were marked by the Irken Empire for conquest? Maybe Zim was going to try to call in reinforcements or something.

As Zim read over the unknown information on the planets he was skimming through, he stopped at one in particular. It was a light purple planet painted with grey clouds. Zim's antennae perked, seemingly interested in the information. Dib stood silent as the alien read the text.

"Computer," Zim suddenly called out. "How are the repairs on the Voot going?" A somewhat bored sounding electronic tone reverberated in the computer room.

**"Voot Cruiser repairs are roughly fifteen-percent finished." **

"What?" Zim shouted in annoyance, throwing his arms up in the air. "You've had over an entire day to repair it! How aren't you almost done by now?"

**"Um, did you even look at the state of the Voot Cruiser? I mean, you really did a number on it." **Zim growled in anger.

"How long until the Voot is flyable again?" the alien demanded.

**"Voot Cruiser will be fully operational in roughly one week."**

"A WEEK?" Zim shouted angrily. "You've gotta be kidding me!" Zim smacked the control panel hard in frustration. He began muttering various profanities. Dib raised an eyebrow. What was going on? After Zim's small tantrum, the alien took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders. He looked up at the ceiling and stared aimlessly. "Okay, calm down," the alien said to no one in particular. "It's been five years now. One more week isn't going to kill me." Dib watched as Zim relaxed and looked back up at the screen. He stood there, presumably reading over the text again.

"What about our fuel supply?" Zim asked after a few moments of silence.

**"I've analyzed your options. Regardless of what you decide, there is enough fuel."**

"Okay, good."

Dib was confused. He wasn't sure what to think. He briefly thought over what little information he had gathered so far. Zim was seemingly researching different planets. Their names and locations were unknown. On top of that, Zim apparently needed his Voot Cruiser for whatever he was planning, which was apparently in a state of disrepair. If he was going to call in reinforcements, why would he need the Voot Cruiser? And why would he be worried about fuel supply? To Dib, it almost sounded like Zim was planning to travel to one of the planets he was researching. Maybe he had been assigned a new planet to conquer. But if that were the case, why was he flipping through multiple planets? It didn't seem right.

Was Zim really going to leave Earth? If so, where to? And why?

"Computer, I've made my decision," Zim announced. The screen was still focused on the light purple planet. "I want you to send a call to the planet Meekrob." Meekrob... Where had Dib heard that name before? He was certain this wasn't the first time he had heard of the planet Meekrob. It was on the tip of his tongue. Before he could figure it out, the computer AI broke his thoughts.

"**Uh, Zim, are you sure about that? I mean the Meekrob are-"**

"Yes, yes," Zim interrupted, waving his hand dismissively in the air. "I'm aware. It's still the best option I have. Just do it."

"**And who exactly do you expect me to call on Meekrob?"**

"I don't know," Zim snarled. He shook his head in frustration. "Find a command center or something! You're a smart AI. You'll figure it out." There was a slight pause before the Irken AI continued.

"**You know," **the Computer said, sounding very surprised.** "I think that's the first time you've ever complimented me."**

"SHUT UP AND OBEY YOUR MASTER'S ORDERS!" Zim screamed. "SEND THE CALL!"

"**Ah, there's the Zim I know. Calling planet Meekrob."**

The display went black, then showed a few lines of Irken text. After a few moments, the screen switched again. Dib had to hold in a surprised gasp. He saw a figure on screen. He now remembered where he had heard of the planet Meekrob. It was back when Zim put him in that simulation of a successful life. If he remembered correctly, the Meekrob were highly intelligent beings of pure energy.

And if Zim's simulation from years before was to be believed, he knew that the Meekrob were sworn enemies of the Irken Empire. So, what the hell was Zim doing contacting them?

On screen was a being that looked a lot like the aliens that had visited Dib in the simulation. It was a skinny bright green alien with elongated eyes. Its arms were tiny to the point of being presumably useless. Attached to its head was some sort of shroud that covered behind its entire body. It was floating in a room that seemed to be stacked with computers and displays. No one else was on screen. The Meekrob looked directly at the camera, looking very upset.

"What exactly do you think you're doing calling us, _Irken?" _The Meekrob hissed at Zim in a gruff male voice.

"Hello to you too," Zim sarcastically quipped.

"You know not to call us," the Meekrob accused, pointing his tiny finger at the Zim. "Or have you already forgotten the treaty we have with your Tallest?"

_Treaty? _Dib thought. _What treaty? Aren't these guys enemies of the Irkens?_

"Yes, yes," Zim scoffed. "I'm well aware of the agreement between the Irken Empire and your species." Dib almost couldn't believe it. Had the beings of Meekrob really negotiated a peace agreement with the Irken Empire? How could that be? Irkens were the most ruthless and cold-blooded species he knew of. Why would they agree to a peace treaty with their sworn enemy? "It's part of why I'm calling," Zim explained. The Meekrob narrowed his eyes at Zim.

"Who are you?" the Meekrob asked, clearly suspicious.

"I am ZIM!" the alien proudly declared. The Meekrob's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait, Zim?" he asked. "Really? Like, _the _Zim?" Zim cocked his head in confusion. The Meekrob looked off screen for a moment, and Dib heard a faint voice talking from somewhere in the background. The voice was too low to distinguish what it was saying. "Huh, no shit. Alright then," the Meekrob said to someone off screen. He turned back to the screen to face Zim. "Hold, please." The screen immediately switched to black, showing a logo of a happy looking Meekrob holding some sort of phone. Under it was some unfamiliar non-Irken text. Cheesy music began to play. Zim growled.

"No one puts Zim on hold," the Irken said. He threw an arm out in anger. "NO ONE!" The alien remained standing in his position. Dib waited in anticipation. He tried to piece things together. Zim was calling Meekrob, home of the Irken Empire's most fervent enemy. Their people had apparently negotiated _something _with the Irkens. How those negotiations came to be, Dib didn't know. He also still didn't know what purpose this call held for Zim. The hold screen went away and was replaced with an image of a small figure sitting in a chair. The creature's features were hidden behind a mask and goggles. Their head was adorned with some sort of bandana, covering its entire scalp.

"Hey, what is this?" Zim demanded. He pointed accusingly to the figure on screen. "You're not a Meekrob! Who are you?" The figure ignored Zim's queries.

"Why did you call us?" The figure demanded. Her voice was clearly female.

"Huh? Hey, I asked you a question!" Zim shouted adamantly. The figure shook her head.

"I will not answer until I've verified my suspicions," she explained. "I'll ask again. Why did you call us?" There was a long pause as Dib saw Zim consider the question. The alien sighed in defeat.

"I'm calling because I need help," Zim finally said. Dib raised his eyebrows. Maybe Zim really _was _calling for reinforcements. The figure on screen nodded.

"I thought you might say that," she said.

"Are you going to tell me who you are, now?" Zim asked. Dib was disappointed when the figure shook her head. He really wanted to know too.

"I cannot tell you at the moment," she told Zim. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. I just cannot risk anyone in the Armada catching wind of this call." Zim scoffed and waved his hand out at the screen.

"Don't worry," Zim reassured. "I've cut all connections to the Massive."

"Oh, I'm guessing you figured it out then?" The figure on screen almost sounded happy about what she had said. Dib cocked his head in confusion. What was she talking about?

"Figured what out?" Zim said cautiously, echoing Dib's thoughts.

"That you're a Defective," the figure said plainly. Dib couldn't hold in his gasp. Zim was a Defective? What exactly did that mean? Was this why he said he wasn't going to try to take over Earth? Zim was just as baffled at her statement as Dib, though obviously for different reasons.

"Wha... but how-" Zim stuttered over his words. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "How did you know?"

"I didn't," the figure said, smiling. "You just told me." Zim grunted in annoyance at being tricked. "Don't worry, I had always assumed you were a Defective. I bet most Irkens have as well. It's a wonder that you're still alive, honestly."

"How do you know who I am?" Zim demanded.

"I'm betting you hacked into the Massive's data stream," the figure said, not answering Zim's question and sounding amused with herself. "Didn't you?" Zim merely nodded in confirmation, looking quite shocked. The figure smiled widely. "Thought so. I had a feeling that information would be somewhere within the Massive's huge library of information." Zim cocked his head in thought.

"You make it sound like you have done the same," Zim said. The figure shook her head.

"No," she said. It didn't sound too convincing. "We would never betray the terms of the treaty."

"Somehow I doubt that," Zim said. "Are you going to reveal yourself?" Once again, the figure shook her head.

"I cannot trust your word that you have cut all connections to the Massive," she said. "It is too risky. If the Tallest were to find out..." Her voice trailed off into silence. After a moment of silence, Zim's antennae perked up. It seemed something had just clicked with the alien.

"You're Irken," Zim stated, astonished at the revelation. "You're a traitor to the Empire. Aren't you?" The figure made no physical reaction to Zim's statements. In fact, she ignored it completely.

"I know just as well as you do that you cannot return to Irk," the accused Irken said. "And I very much doubt you wish to live the rest of your life on that planet you were 'assigned' to." She brought up her hands to gesture finger quotes. "So tell me, how long until you arrive on Meekrob?"

Dib's eyes widened. He stared at the exchange in shock. He desperately tried to control his breathing, not wanting to alert Zim to his presence. So that's what this was all about. Zim was a Defective, whatever that meant. At the very least, it meant that Zim's mission was clearly over. Dib doubted that someone who had been deemed as a Defective would be allowed to continue an invasion mission. Especially since he apparently couldn't return to his home planet, according to the creature on screen. It was clear now. Zim wasn't calling for reinforcements. He was calling to request refugee status. He was going to leave Earth. He really wasn't going to try to take it over. It seemed the rivalry between Zim and Dib was finally coming to an end. Dib was unsure how to feel about that. He had gotten so used to being Zim's enemy over the years. He had begun to dedicate his life to protecting Earth from the evil alien. And now, that was all going away. He would no longer have to risk his life to save his planet. At least, not until a new threat popped up. In a roundabout way, Dib had won.

Strangely, Dib didn't feel much satisfaction from that fact.

Zim, most likely stunned that the 'Irken' on the display had correctly assumed his intentions, said nothing for a few moments. He eventually nodded and looked back up at the screen.

"I will not be able to leave until my Voot Cruiser is repaired," Zim explained. "Repairs will take about one hundred sixty eight hours. From there, it will take me at least another five hundred or so to reach Meekrob." The figure on screen nodded.

"We have much to discuss when you arrive," she said. Zim interrupted her before she could continue.

"Let me be clear," Zim warned. "I have no intention of betraying the Irken Empire." The figure hummed.

"We can talk more in person," she said. "I'm sure you have many questions of me as well. You may contact us again once you reach Meekrob's proximity."

"We will meet on my terms only," Zim demanded. "No funny stuff. Or I'll self-destruct my ship into your command center." The figure laughed hysterically. Zim growled, apparently angry that his threat wasn't being taken seriously.

"Ah, that's the Zim I've come to know over the years of the Tallest's broadcasts," the figure said, clearly amused. "See you soon." With that, the transmission ended and the screen went black. Zim continued to stare at the screen for a few moments. Dib, still shocked at the information he uncovered, was satisfied with his infiltration. He learned exactly what he wanted to learn. He was relieved that Zim really wasn't planning anything to take over the Earth. He almost found it strange that he would no longer have to deal with the alien.

His heart rate jumped when he saw Zim turn around. The alien was facing the elevator Dib had come out of. The alien's antennae raised, and he cocked an eye. He started walking towards the elevator. Dib became extremely nervous. Zim was walking straight towards him. It was only a small relief to see that the alien was not looking directly at Dib. The human tip-toed to the edge of the metal platform, trying to stay out of Zim's way as the alien headed towards the elevator. He felt himself begin to sweat as Zim walked closer. The alien stopped himself at the entrance, staring at the elevator. Dib held his breath. His suit was damp with nervous sweat. He began to tremble slightly in fear. Zim was standing right next to him. One wrong move, and Dib's cover would be blown. For what felt like an eternity, Zim stood unflinchingly in his spot.

Dib suddenly felt a powerful grip around his throat.

A metal claw had materialized from Zim's PAK and was now crushing Dib's windpipe. He felt himself get shoved into the wall of the elevator. He gasped in pain, struggling to loosen the grip of the metal claw. Zim was now staring directly at Dib. The human's stealth suit was still active. At least, it was until he felt electricity shoot out from the claw. He screamed in pain and the suit slowly deactivated, leaving Dib completely visible to the Irken. Zim narrowed his eyes at Dib.

"Computer," Zim said, oddly calm. "Why did you not tell me that we had an intruder?"

**"Uh, yeah, that's probably my bad. I didn't see him. Sorry about that."**

"HOW DID YOU NOT DETECT HIM?" Zim screamed, tightening his grip on Dib's throat. Dib gasped desperately in pain. "ARE YOUR SENSORS MALFUNCTIONING?"

"Th...the suit..." Dib weakly gurgled through the choke hold. Zim stared at the suit, but said nothing about it. He looked back up at Dib and gritted his teeth. The Irken steeled his face and spoke.

"You know, I thought you of all humans would have been smart enough to stay away." Zim leaned in closer, his face inches from Dib's. "I guess I was wrong." Dib didn't say anything in his defense. He was still struggling in vain to free himself from Zim's hold. "Your suit may have rendered you invisible to my base's security, but that doesn't mean I can't smell the stink of your fear. Or hear your desperate heart beat." He gestured to the elevator that they were now standing in. "Not to mention I did not call for this elevator." Zim's grip tightened even further.

"Z-Zim... please..." Dib desperately choked. He couldn't breathe. He could feel himself getting lightheaded. His blood was rushing to his head. He desperately needed air. He re-doubled his efforts to free himself. It was all for naught. Zim's grip was just far too strong. The alien's face remained cold. Angry. Determined.

"Well, congratulations Dib-stink," Zim said, darkly. "You found out what I was planning. I hope it was worth it." Zim stepped back from Dib, keeping his grip on the boy's throat. No, it wasn't worth it. Dib knew now that he should have just stayed home. He should have heeded the Irken's warning. He should have just left Zim alone. He wouldn't have had to deal with the alien anymore. He could be home right now watching reruns of Mysterious Mysteries. If it wasn't for his damned curiosity, he would not be in the danger that he now found himself in. He began to tear up. Partly from the choke hold Zim had him in, but also from the fear of dying. This was it. After over five years, it turned out that Zim had actually won against Dib. Their battle was over. He lost. And now he was going to pay the price. Zim took one final look at his rival.

"Good-bye Dib. It's been horrible."

The grip tightened once more, and Dib fell into the dark depths of unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

Five years was quite a long time, for a human at least. A lot can happen. Events could shape the future for years to come. Vast amounts of knowledge can be accrued. Friendships can be forged, as well as rivalries. Enemies. The time spent on Earth had a clear and profound effect on Zim. He had learned a lot about the culture and social structures of humanity. He learned about how humans interact with one another. How they speak to each other. Their colloquialisms and slang. Five years may not have been too long for the average Irken, but this extreme exposure to Earth was changing Zim. And he had started realizing it long before the revelation of his PAK's status.

At times, Zim would catch himself acting more human than Irken. Sometimes it was a simple Earth saying picked up from the horrible children at school. Other times, it was reacting to social confrontations in ways that were decidedly un-Irken. However, it went far deeper than Zim merely beginning to unintentionally assimilate into human society. It wasn't until three days ago that he realized what the real problem was.

He had begun to feel emotions that should be impossible for an Irken.

He could feel it during the call. Hurt, betrayal, sadness. The hate for his former Tallest. The brief desire to violently rebel against his race. There were other examples of this even before his call to Red and Purple, but Zim never dwelled on them in the past. They were few and far between, and never of any consequence to Zim. Now, the alien reasoned that his Defective PAK must be the reason for these abnormalities.

It made some sense, at least. 'Defective' was a rather vague term to describe the status of a PAK. Really, as far as Zim knew, the term could mean anything from a malfunctioning mechanical component to a neural injection failure. The PAK was more than just life support, it contained absolutely everything about any Irken who wore one was. Their personality, their goals, even their thoughts and emotions. In a way, the PAK was the real Irken. The body was merely a vessel for the Irken to act with. Everything else was stored in the PAK, and regulated by the Control Brains. At least, they were supposed to be. Zim had already figured that his emotional inhibitors were either inefficient or completely non-functional. If his PAK had been deemed Defective, who knew what else was wrong with him. Non-Irken emotions might be the least of his worries.

In this moment though, Zim's emotions were absolutely Irken in nature.

Cold. Angry. Merciless.

Zim tightened his grip, still standing inside the elevator. He watched with a vicious glare as Dib's eyes rolled back into his head. The human weakly grasped at the claw around his neck. This was it. Five years of being on Earth. Five years of failure. Five years of frustration. Five years of battling it out with this meddlesome Earth child.

Zim and Dib had been enemies ever since the alien step foot on Earth. There was rarely a day that went by when Zim did not have to deal with the wretched Earth boy's interference. Wherever Zim went, whatever the alien planned, he knew Dib was always behind him to impede his progress. Every fight, every confrontation with the boy, and every spoken word between them. It all culminated in this moment. Their final moment. Zim, for perhaps the first time in his life, was about to experience the thrill of a victory.

"Good-bye, Dib. It's been horrible."

Dib's eyes began to close. The human's grip on the claw fell. His weak choking ceased.

Suddenly, an interruption.

**"Warning! Irken signature detected entering Earth's atmosphere!" **The computer's almost frantic tone signified the urgency of the situation. Not that Zim needed any indication that what he had just heard was _not good._

"_What?_" he shouted in fear. Zim's head snapped away from Dib and towards the computer display. His metal claw dropped hold of Dib and the boy fell limply to the ground as Zim completely forgot about the boy's intrusion. He immediately ran to the monitor, anxious about who this apparent Irken could be. The screen showed a three-dimensional view of Earth. The view shifted to a section of Earth (worryingly, the section that Zim was in if his Geography classes were any indication) and showed a red dot donned with the Irken insignia just outside the planet.

Zim's breathing hitched. Was it someone from the Armada? How the hell did they get all the way to Earth in less than a day? According to the flight plans, the Armada was too far away from the planet for even the fastest Spittle Shuttle to reach it in such time. Even if they were to utilize a wormhole, Zim estimated at least three to four days of travel. Anxiously curious of who this Irken could be, Zim brought his nervously shaking hands to the control console and brought up a dialogue box.

_SHIP TYPE: IRKEN ESCAPE POD_

"Escape pod?" Zim wondered aloud. Well, that probably ruled out the possibility of an Irken Elite squad. It still didn't rule out the possibility of some other assassin, though. For all Zim knew, he could have a bounty on his head by now. He didn't think Red and Purple would go out of their way to extort the effort required to visit Earth themselves. In fact, he wasn't even entirely sure if they would send the Elites. That was just wasted resources that could be better spent towards the Empire's mission. No. If anything, Red and Purple would just offer monies to whatever Irken was crazy enough to make the trip to Earth, just to take out Zim.

But this wasn't a ship, this was an escape pod. This could just be an Irken who ran into ship trouble and just so happened to land on Earth in an attempt to abandon ship. And whose course just so happened to be in the general direction of Zim's location. That was one hell of a coincidence and Zim didn't buy it. He continued scanning the information displayed on screen. Currently, it was traveling at standard planet entry speeds. It was couple hundred miles outside the edge of the Earth's exosphere. Unfortunately, that is where the information ended. Zim tapped his fingers, nervously.

"Computer," he called out. "Connect me to the pod and send a transmission. I want to know who we're dealing with."

**"Error: Connection to escape pod could not be established." **Zim swore under his breath in frustration.

"Why not?!" he demanded.

**"I dunno," **the Computer said, sounding almost annoyed. ** "I just can't connect."**

Zim nearly tore out his antennae in vicious frustration. He didn't like being blind to any situation, especially one this delicate. At the moment, Zim wasn't entirely convinced that this was an Irken that had been sent to terminate him. But there was not enough evidence to definitively say that he was safe from the unknown Irken. It made Zim feel very on edge. He wanted to leave Earth immediately. That was hard to do without a functional Voot Cruiser. He was going to have to deal with this potential threat sooner or later.

Zim, still as a statue, stared at the display for quite some time. He watched as the escape pod's signal inched towards the Earth, presumably preparing to break through the atmosphere. Suddenly realizing he had forgotten about Dib, he took a quick look back to the elevator. The boy was still sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. Zim could just barely make out his hoarse breathing. So the boy was still alive. Zim would deal with that later. There were more pressing matters at hand.

After a while, Zim noticed that the pod had finally entered the exosphere and was now on a direct course towards Earth. He looked back at the pod's velocity. Strangely, it was steadily increasing. The pod's engines should have been able to counteract that, but apparently had not. This made Zim perk his antennae in interest. What was going on? Why was the pod increasing velocity? Shouldn't the thrusters be decreasing its descent?

He peered in closer to the display, watching as the signal grew closer and closer to the Earth. The velocity continued to increase. Something wasn't right. He tapped a few commands into the console and brought up more details about the pod's trajectory. It was at that point that Zim realized what was going on. The pod wasn't landing, it was crashing. The speed increased even further.

Suddenly, the signal was completely lost. The red dot disappeared, as did all of the pod's information. Zim's eyes nearly bulged right out of their sockets.

"Wha-" Zim gasped. "Computer! What's going on? What happened to the signal?"

**"It's gone."**

**"**_Obviously_ it's gone," Zim hissed in annoyance, his eyes narrowing. "Why is it gone?"

**"I dunno. Maybe it's because the pod crashed?" **The Computer seemed to tease its master. Zim didn't appreciate it.

"No, you moronic AI!" Zim shouted in anger, smacking a palm on the control console. "It was still hundreds of miles above the Earth's crust! It hasn't crashed yet!" Zim hummed and thought about the situation. "Maybe the pod's computer was shut down. But why?"

Zim brought a finger to his chin, trying to analyze what was going on. The escape pod was clearly going to crash into Earth. It was unclear whether the passenger would survive the landing. This could be a good thing, Zim reasoned. He didn't feel comfortable about another Irken coming to Earth, even if said Irken was not sent there on purpose. Maybe Zim wouldn't need to do anything at all. Gravity might just do the work for him.

Of course, there was still a possibility that the inhabitant of the escape pod could live through the crash. That could turn into a problem for Zim very quickly. He knew that he would not be able to leave Earth for at least a week. He worried about the possibility of the unknown Irken recognizing Zim if they were to cross paths. And if there really was a bounty on his head, which Zim still was unsure of, he could be in danger. Zim could try just hiding in his base and waiting out the Voot repair, but that brought up the thought of the humans finding the crash.

There were two problems with this. First off, if the humans captured the Irken, they could potentially gain access to Irken knowledge and technology. Zim wouldn't let that happen. Not only were the humans unworthy of possessing such things, they could use such knowledge and resources against the Irken Empire. Zim may have been labeled a Defective and exiled by his people, but Zim had already vowed not to interfere in their galactic conquest. And he intended to keep that vow.

The second problem was a captured Irken could bring unwanted attention towards Zim. News as big as an alien being discovered would surely be plastered all over the news. Everyone would know about it. More importantly, everyone would know what an Irken looks like. Zim wasn't confident enough in his disguise that he'd be able to fool those who have seen an Irken before. They would know what to watch out for. Green skin. No ears. Zim had come to know quite a few humans since he started his fake mission. They knew who he was and what he looked like. If they were to see footage of another Irken, that could raise alarm bells in their heads. Zim shook all these thoughts out of his head. He had to remedy the problem before it got out of hand.

"Computer!" Zim shouted, raising a finger to the air. "Analyze the last known velocity and trajectory of the pod! Estimate where the escape pod might crash and send the coordinates to my PAK!"

**"Analyzing...sending...done."**

Zim nodded in satisfaction as he felt the information write itself to his memory. He analyzed what the Computer had sent him. He mentally read over the coordinates. Based on the ship's trajectory and velocity, the ship would likely crash in a large field a few miles away from his base. Somewhere outside the town limits. Once again, Zim couldn't help but feel that it was too coincidental that the escape pod's course was set to land somewhere around where Zim resided.

Satisfied, Zim shut down the large display and turned around to face the elevator. The one that was currently occupied by the unconscious Dib. Zim walked towards the elevator, never taking an eye off of the boy.

Dib had significant bruises around his neck. His eyes were tightly shut as his weak breath caused his chest to rise and fall ever so slightly. His face bore a pained expression. Zim cocked his antennae and stood in a prolonged silence, staring at the unconscious human. Judging him. This human had caused so much anger and annoyance. His determination was disgustingly strong. Zim almost couldn't believe he was still fighting him after all this time.

He should finish this. Zim was literally inches away from finishing off his old enemy for good. Zim was going to be on Earth for at least one more week. Dib had proven to Zim that he refused to heed his warnings to stay away. Clearly, the only way to get the human to leave Zim alone was to eliminate him. He took another step towards Dib. His eyes never left the boy's face.

_Are you really going to kill him?_

He should finish this. There really wasn't much reason not to do so. Zim had been given a freebie the moment his claw touched the boy's throat. Zim may have been shocked out of terminating Dib by the current situation, but now this might be his only chance. The boy was unconscious. Vulnerable. He wouldn't put up a fight. He was completely at Zim's mercy, which had already been established to be non-existent.

Right?

_This is wrong. He can't even fight back._

He should finish this. For some reason, Zim's mind turned towards thoughts of his former Tallest. What would think about his slight hesitation? They would mock him, of course. They'd tell him how bad of an Invader he was for not immediately eliminating the threat. They wouldn't have spared a moment in terminating anyone who got in their way. Or, more grimly, maybe they would have spared his life. Only so they could use him as a torture doll. Hell, every other Irken in existence would have done the same without any second thought.

_You aren't like them. You know you aren't._

He _really _should finish this.

_He's the only sentient being you've had any real significant interaction within the five years you've been here. And you're just going to kill him while he's down?_

He should finish this. So, why couldn't he?

He continued to stare down at the boy. He felt anxiety boil up inside him. Not just anxiety, he also felt something completely new. Something that he had never even dreamed about feeling towards any other creature, human or otherwise. Though he had never felt it himself, he knew exactly what it was. He cursed his Defective PAK.

_Sympathy_

Zim couldn't kill Dib. He couldn't exactly figure out _why _he couldn't. That didn't matter. Zim felt a slight sickness as he realized what he was about to do. He couldn't do it. He couldn't just kill his rival. Not like this. Dib hadn't even attacked Zim. All he did was spy on the alien. Zim knew how curious Dib could become when he lacked vital information. Information such as Zim's old plans for world domination, for instance. But this whole thing was no longer about conquering the Earth. And now Dib knew that. Perhaps now that Dib had the knowledge he risked his life over, he would finally stay away. After all, what point was there in spying on an alien that was planning on leaving the planet anyway?

Zim made up his mind. He pulled out his voice communicator from his pack and spoke into it.

"Gir, get down here. I need you."

_"Yes my master! Hnnggg!" _Gir's low pitched grunts could be heard through the communicator. In an instant, Gir could be seen shooting down the elevator shaft. He landed on the roof of the elevator capsule with a loud metallic smack. His robotic body fell limp on the surface. Zim brought a hand to his head in mild annoyance. Gir perked up, his body lights turning red, and opened a latch on the elevator's roof. The robot jumped through and immediately saluted his master. After his brief salute, his body shifted back to blue, and he eyed Dib.

"Oooh! I didn't know we was havin' company! I can go bake-" Zim cut the robot off before the rambling could take hold of the situation.

"Gir! Duty mode!" Zim cocked an eye in thought. "And none of your incessant giggling this time!"

"Yes sir!" There was no hesitation as Gir returned to duty mode, ready for his master's commands.

"I want you to suit up and take the Dib-human to his home," Zim explained quietly. "Drop him off at his front door. When you've done that, ring the doorbell and immediately come back to the base. Do you understand?" Gir nodded before jumping up in glee.

"Yay! We's playin' Ding-Dong Ditch!" he shouted happily, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement. Zim waved a dismissive hand at the robot.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Now go!" Zim watched as Gir called the elevator back upstairs, bringing Dib along. Zim fully trusted Gir would carry out his orders. He may be a bit... ditzy. But duty mode had never failed him before. Well, except for that one time. But that time was never to be brought up again. He had learned that working with Gir was a delicate balancing act. Sometimes, you just had to say the right things to get him to listen. It was one of the reasons why Zim had not completely wiped Gir's mind and replaced it with something more, well, sane. Once Zim finally figured out how Gir's mind worked, he was able to use that knowledge to encourage competence out of his little minion. Duty mode helped with that. He was even able to modify Gir's duty mode functions to prevent... that... from happening again.

Worringly satisfied with his decision to spare the boy's life, Zim walked towards the other elevator platform.

"Computer!" Zim shouted in his usual stern voice. "Take me to the weapons room!"

**"'Kay."**

Zim was going to find the eventual crash site of the escape pod. And when he got there, he didn't want to be taken by surprise if the Irken had lived through the crash. If it was an assassin, Zim would be ready to eliminate the threat.

* * *

Zim ran as quickly as he could through the currently empty town he had spent so long living in. He brushed his hand on his wig, trying to straighten it so it would not fall off. He had the area almost completely memorized by now. He knew where each building was, what they were, and where the best observation spots were. He also knew where the Computer's coordinates were leading him towards. He looked up in the sky, trying to find any trace of the incoming escape pod. Unfortunately, the bright street lamps of the town were obscuring his vision of the dark night sky. He couldn't even see any of the stars and planets that usually littered the sky. He needed to get outside the town before he could view space unobstructed.

After around a half-hour of running, Zim had finally reached the town limits. He continued his quick stride, mentally checking his position in relation to the coordinates through his PAK. He turned course off the road and ran into an open grassy field. As he got farther from the bright lights of the town, he could start to make out the stars. He stopped in his tracks and looked up, desperately scanning the sky. There it was. It looked like a shooting star, but Zim knew better. It was far too close to Earth for it to be anything but the escape pod he was tracking. He stared as the fiery ball fell towards the ground. His PAK whirred as he made a few mental calculations. It seemed the pod would hit the ground about a quarter mile from his current position.

The ball of flame was getting bigger. He could hear the loud humming of air friction. Zim's eyes widened as he could start to make the ship out. He ducked to the ground and braced himself for the pod's inevitable impact. Any second now.

The crash violently quaked the Earth and shook Zim to his core.

After a moment to collect himself, Zim got off the ground and directed his sight towards the crash. Shrouded in fire was the escape pod. It bore the signature Irken purple paint, along with the insignia of his people. As he walked closer to the pod, he noticed a few odd things about it. It was definitely an Irken escape pod, there was no doubt about that. However, there were a few things that were different about it. For one thing, escape pods did not generally have three large engine thrusters. The thrusters themselves were of unknown origin to Zim. In fact, the pod seemed to have been modified with a good amount of non-Irken technology. Along with the non-standard thrusters (two of which seemed to have been blown judging by the scorch marks where they should have been), the ship had various rudders and other navigation technology somewhat haphazardly attached to the ship. Zim had no idea where the pilot of this pod could have gotten all of this tech. It certainly wasn't from Irk. Clearly, it had been modified for the purpose of using it as an actual space craft.

He walked around the pod to face the front. It was in bad shape from the crash. Much of the metal was severely mangled, though the pod itself had retained its shape for the most part. The cockpit window was severely cracked, but thanks to the incredible durability of Irken engineering, it was not completely shattered. He couldn't see through the heavily damaged window. Zim unholstered his plasma pistol from his waist and aimed it steadily at the cockpit as he got closer. He needed to be ready to defend himself if the pilot had survived the crash. He still wasn't sure if the occupant would be hostile or not.

Zim looked around the cockpit window and found a small console, which was currently displaying nothing but a blank screen. He brought his free hand up to it and tried to activate it. Nothing happened. It seemed the on-board computer had ceased all functions. Not willing to give up, he looked around for the emergency hatch. When he found it, he gripped the latch and pulled hard. It didn't budge. The damage from the crash must have been severe enough that the cockpit would not open. Frustrated, and without any other options, Zim fiercely brought the pistol down onto the cracked glass. It shattered in an instant, shooting particles of glass all over the cockpit.

He looked inside the cockpit to see the occupant. Seeing who was inside, Zim immediately aimed his weapon at her, steadying it with both hands.

"Tak?" Zim shouted incredulously. Sure enough, sitting in the cockpit was his old Irken enemy. Tak's limp body didn't react to Zim's outburst. She was completely motionless, clearly broken in several places. Her arms and legs were sprawled at extreme and unnatural angles. Her antennae were bent in ways that must be terribly painful, if she was alive at least. A translucent pink substance littered her body, leaking out from many different areas. It was her blood, Zim reasoned.

Tak had come to Earth. Zim knew exactly why. It had been years since he and the Dib-child had foiled her plan to turn the Earth into a snack bowl. It had been even longer since he had inadvertently ruined her life and doomed her to an existence as a janitorial drone. She clearly modified her escape pod to allow it to travel through space. She must have spent the entire time since her defeat working on it. Zim knew she intended Earth to be her destination. Though, he figured that crashing the ship wasn't part of the plan.

She was almost certainly here to kill Zim.

Still holding his pistol directly at Tak, Zim drew closer. He noticed the ship was littered with bits and pieces of what he figured was her SIR unit, Mimi. What had happened to it? Was it destroyed in the crash? He stared at Tak, waiting for any sort of movement. She was completely still. Zim raised an eye at the sight. Was she dead? It was highly likely, considering the force of the crash and the gruesome state of her still body. Cautiously, he slowly holstered his weapon and leaned his body inside the ship. He took off a glove and held his finger up to her neck.

A pulse. Faint, but clearly there. She was still alive.

Zim brought a nervous hand back to his holster. If she was alive, then she was still a threat. He stood in front of the ship unflinchingly as he waited for her PAK to work its medical magic. She was in bad shape, but not bad enough that her PAK would be unable to patch up her injuries in no time at all. However, after waiting for what felt like an eternity, nothing happened. She still didn't move. Her wounds did not heal. Zim cocked his head in confusion until an idea popped into his head.

Cursing himself for being such a moron, he stepped inside the ship and released the safety belt. Now that she was no longer restrained, Zim carefully grabbed her still body and flipped her over to inspect her PAK. He gasped at the state of it. It had been crushed by the impact. The compartment doors were ripped open, the hinges bent. He leaned in towards the PAK to see if he could hear any sounds to indicate that it was working. His antennae twitched at the sound of grinding metal inside the device. Relief swept over Zim once he knew that while the PAK was heavily damaged, it was still operational in some capacity.

Wait, relief? Why the hell was he relieved?

He shook his head, determined to force that thought from his mind. This was Tak. An Irken who held an extreme hatred towards Zim. A hatred that Zim was fully convinced that he shared. She had traveled to Earth, most likely with the intent of killing him. She had tried to take his mission away from him. Well, in hindsight, that particular fact didn't really matter considering the true nature of his mission. Suddenly, his thoughts flashed with the memory of their last encounter. Her words echoed clearly in his mind.

_"I don't know how you did it, Zim. You're not even an invader, you know? The tallest lied to you. Your mission is all a big lie!"_

Zim's eyes widened at the memory. She was telling the truth. Sure, she may have only said that to piss Zim off, but she wasn't lying. Zim had never believed her, of course. At the time, he reasoned that she would have said just about anything in her desperation to win. With the knowledge he had gained from the Massive's database, he saw Tak in a new light. She may have been trying to kill him, but at least she had the decency to speak truthfully towards him. It was more than his former Tallest had ever gave him.

_She's here to kill me, _Zim reminded himself._ I need to eliminate her before she becomes a threat._

He unholstered his pistol again and pointed it squarely at Tak's body. His aim drifted over her head. His finger twitched slightly as it started to close around the trigger. One of the human concepts Zim had learned from being on Earth was known as déjà vu. He had been in this situation before. The desire to kill something that was completely defenseless. The inability to do so. The emotional response of his body as he tried to force himself to pull the trigger.

He couldn't do it.

_Sympathy_

He really despised having a Defective PAK.

Zim growled in frustration and holstered his gun, fuming at his inability to murder Tak. She was his enemy. She probably had every intention of killing Zim the moment she recovered from unconsciousness. She was a cold, brutal killer. She was everything that was required to be a brutal Invader. Zim knew she would have succeeded in the ranks if he didn't accidentally destroy her life. He was sure that if it weren't for him, Tak would have been on some other planet assigned for Irken conquest. Zim couldn't help but feel a small amount of... guilt? Yet another taboo emotion that Zim had to deal with.

He made his decision a little too easily for comfort. He cursed himself for being stupid enough to go through with what he was about to do.

"Gir," Zim demanded after bringing his voice communicator out of his pack, "Are you finished with your objective?"

"Yes sir!" Gir responded, sounding like he was still in duty mode.

"We have a problem," Zim explained, still looking at Tak and her dismantled SIR unit. "I need you to come to my location immediately. I need help, uh, carrying some things."

"You got it, Joshy!"

_Joshy? What?_

Zim dismissed Gir's strange nickname as his usual Gir-like antics. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. Even if he pulled it off, he was sure that Tak would eliminate him the moment she regained consciousness. And yet, there was a small voice in the back of his mind that told him it was the right thing to do. It was definitely not the Irken thing to do, but Zim was barely an Irken anyway.

Zim waited patiently by Tak's pod, watching her closely as he waited for Gir to show up.

* * *

_Head. Shit._

Those were Tak's first thoughts as she slowly came back to the conscious world. It wasn't just her head that hurt. Her entire body burned with an incredible pain. She would have screamed in agony, had she not been too proud to do so. She could almost feel the exact locations where her bones had been broken. The gashes in her body where dried pink blood was caked. The absence of painkillers from her PAK. She wasn't even fully aware that she was conscious, only aware of the agony her body throbbed with. She kept her eyes closed tightly, worried about whatever light source would do to her aching head.

She breathed at an uneven pace, trying to block out the pain. As she started becoming more aware of her woken state, she immediately began analyzing her current situation. She was laying face-down on what she assumed to be a metal table. She could make out the metallic sounds of some type of robotic machine doing... _something. _A spark of pain shot out from her PAK and ravaged her body. She shook violently and realized that her appendages had been strapped down to the table. It wasn't a tight hold, just enough to keep her from moving too much. Not that she could really move anyways. Her body was in so much pain that she doubted her ability to even stand.

The events played out clearly in her mind. She had broken the atmosphere of Earth. Her ship's engines had failed. It had crash landed into Earth. Apparently, someone had found her and strapped her to this table. She immediately became worried about the implications. Had a human found her? Was this a human medical facility? Was she about to be dissected? The dark realization swept through her and her eyes shot wide open. She tried to calm herself.

_Wait, if I'm being dissected, why am I lying face-down?_

Her vision was met with the metal table she had been laying on. In her peripheral, she could just barely make out the dark red metal walls of the empty room. She struggled to lift her head to get a better view of whatever room she was in. She noticed a row of screen panels to the side of her, though she could not make out what they displayed. Her eyes were still adjusting to the bright light, making everything look blurry. She looked around as much as her strained body allowed. It almost looked like an Irken medical facility as opposed to a human one.

She gasped in shock, and maybe even just a hint of fear.

_Zim._

**"Sir, Tak is awake." **An electronic voice echoed throughout the room.

"What? No!" An all too familiar voice shouted at the Irken AI. It was Zim's. A deep feeling of dread plagued Tak. This was definitely not good. Zim had captured her, most likely with the intent to kill her. That, or maybe he just wanted to experiment on her. Either way, Tak knew she had to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that was not happening in her current state. "She can't be awake yet," Zim continued. "Inject anesthetics!" Tak said nothing, deciding to stew in her thoughts.

_Oh that vile little worm. As soon as I find a way out of here..._

**"That will almost definitely kill her in this state."**

_Isn't that what you want, Zim? It's certainly what I'd want if the roles were reversed._

"What about painkillers?"

_Wait, painkillers? What?_

**"...Yeah that's probably safe. Probably."**

Tak heard the whirring of a robotic arm descending on her. She felt a small prick as a needle entered her arm. A cold liquid was injected directly into her bloodstream. Immediately, she felt a little light-headed. More than that, she could start to feel the pain in her body begin to recede. She was baffled. Why would Zim inject painkillers if he intended to kill her anyways? Why did he care if she was in pain? They _despised _each other. Both of them wanted the other one dead. Didn't they?

She heard footsteps echo throughout the room as Zim walked closer to Tak. She turned her head to the side to face the direction of the sound. Sure enough, so-called Invader Zim appeared in her vision. His face was unreadable. She couldn't tell if he was angry, determined, or smug. His incredible poker face did not give away any of his intentions. At the sight of her most hated enemy, Tak's blood began to boil. This was the Irken that had completely ruined her life. Twice. _He _was responsible for all her misfortunes. _He _was the reason she had been reassigned to Dirt. _He _was the reason she had been stuck on that miserable planet in the Andromeda system.

And _he _was the reason she was alive right now.

Tak tried to ignore that fact and stared daggers at Zim as he approached.

"Z-Zim." She tried to sound menacing. It didn't work. Her choked gravelly voice betrayed her. She felt absolutely humiliated. Zim's antennae twitched.

"Tak," he said simply in an emotionless tone. He walked around the table, out of sight from Tak. Anxiety built up within Tak's body. She began shaking. Another zap of pain shot out from her PAK. The whirring of robotic arms echoed throughout the room.

"What-" Tak found it hard to speak while under the effects of the surprisingly powerful painkillers. She felt slightly nauseous while trying to speak. "What are you doing to me?" Her words were slurred. She didn't mean to sound scared. She couldn't help it. She cursed herself for being so weak.

"Your PAK was damaged in the crash," Zim explained calmly from behind her. "It won't be able to heal your wounds until it's fixed."

"My... PAK?" Tak said in wonder. How the hell was she still alive? If her PAK was damaged in the crash, she shouldn't even be conscious right now. Let alone still in the land of the living. She lifted her head to try to look behind her at her PAK. She couldn't move far enough to get a good visual, but she could see it in her peripheral. It certainly looked quite damaged from her perspective. It was at that point that Tak realized her PAK had cables attached, likely connected to one of Zim's computers for diagnostics. She could see, as well as hear, the many robotic arms working on the insides of her PAK. Another bolt of pain from her PAK caused her to twitch, though the painkillers were starting to work wonders on the constant shocks from her PAK being repaired.

"Mimi," Tak pleaded desperately. She had almost forgotten about her beloved SIR unit. She felt shameful for it. "Where is she?"

"Your SIR unit is in my base's repair bay," Zim explained, walking back in front of Tak to face her. He walked with his hands behind his back. "I will not activate it unless I'm sure it will not cause any harm to me. You are here to kill me, after all."

Tak did not confirm or deny Zim's accusations. He was right, of course. She was here to kill him. Unfortunately, she had no means to do so at the moment. She sighed in relief that Mimi was going to be okay. For now, at least. She still didn't trust Zim one bit.

"Did you come because of a bounty, or of your own volition?" Zim asked, interrupting Tak's thoughts.

"Bounty?" Tak asked, confused. "You have a bounty on your head?" She stared at Zim's face, incredulously. What exactly had Zim done that warranted a bounty? No, that was a stupid question. There were a lot of things Zim had done that could motivate anyone in the universe to want him dead. Tak certainly knew that, thinking about her fifty years on Dirt and her subsequent failure on Earth. She waited for Zim to speak. His silence indicated that he clearly refused to answer, though his face oddly bore a hint of relief. Tak decided to let it pass and pressed for more information.

"What about my ship?" she asked.

"You mean that ghetto escape pod?" Tak growled in annoyance at the Earthling vernacular Zim used to describe her ship. Sure, it was an escape pod, but she had spent years working on it to turn it space worthy. And she was pretty proud of it. At least she was, until she crashed violently into her destination. "I had Gir vaporize it."

"You WHAT?!" Tak screamed, her body jumping as much as it could under the restraints. She immediately regretted it as she felt every ache and every broken bone light up in electrifying pain. She groaned, almost wishing Zim would give her more painkillers.

"Calm down," Zim hissed, angrily. "There was nothing else I could do. I did not have the means to bring it safely to the base, and I couldn't risk the humans finding it." Tak felt herself calm down a bit at the explanation. She hated to admit it, but what Zim was saying made sense, at least for him. If the humans were to find the ship, they would be in possession of Irken technology. Tak would never allow such a thing to happen, and apparently, neither would Zim. Despite this, Tak was absolutely furious. At least, as furious as the strong painkillers allowed her to be.

"You absolute imbecile," she shouted. "That was my only means of travel! What the hell am I going to do now?" She wanted oh so badly to deck Zim in the face. She wanted to hurt him just as much as she was hurting now. Perhaps even more so.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Zim said dismissively, waving a hand at her. "You're smart, you'll figure something out."

Tak cocked an eye at Zim in shock. Did he really just compliment her? What the hell? Who was this Irken and what did he do with Zim? Something was _very _wrong here. He was acting totally different from what she remembered him as. Zim had never been so easy to talk to. The few conversations she had with him in the past bore nothing but frustration and anger. She was still plenty angry with the Irken, sure. But Zim's explanations were not only thorough and to the point, they were completely genuine. He spoke without his usual delusions of grandeur. This couldn't be Zim. There was no way he changed this much since the last time they had confronted each other. The Zim she knew was an angry and incompetent little worm. The Zim she knew destroyed her life.

This Zim, however, had just saved her life.

"Why did you save me?" she asked quietly.

"I..." Zim paused in thought. He seemed to be desperately wracking his brain, trying to find an answer. He sighed and shook his head. "I honestly have no idea. I guess I didn't want to kill you while you were vulnerable." Tak scoffed in jest. If her aching body let her, she would have laughed hysterically.

"How very... _un-Irken _of you." Zim narrowed his eyes at Tak before turning away. That was interesting. If Tak didn't know any better, Zim had almost looked quite hurt by her comment. She waited for one of his infamous (and terrible) comebacks. They never came. Zim stood motionlessly, saying nothing in response. Clearly that comment affected Zim in a way Tak didn't understand. Something was going on with Zim. Something must have happened to him. Tak almost wanted to ask what it was, but she didn't want to give the impression that she actually cared.

And she _definitely _didn't care.

She came here with one mission. And that mission was to eliminate Zim. She wouldn't even try to go back to the Tallest without completing that mission. After all, she figured his death by her hands was the key to getting back into their good graces. She desperately needed to become an Invader. She needed a chance to fix her life after that moron destroyed it. The crash was a setback. And Zim's rescue was a blessing, even if it was endlessly confusing to her. Once she was patched up, she would complete her mission and leave Earth. After an almost unbearable silence, Zim finally spoke again.

"If you still intend on killing me," he said in a quiet dejected tone, still not facing her. It was almost as if he could read Tak's thoughts in that moment. "You'll have to wait until my machines fix your PAK. I do not know how long that will take."

"You're taking my quest for vengeance rather well," Tak said in a mocking sing-song voice. "Here I am, explicitly telling you that I intend to eliminate you, and yet you're still trying to fix my PAK. I can't tell if that's just your stupidity, or if you have ulterior motives." Zim closed his eyes in thought and seemed to consider Tak's statement.

"Honestly, dying would probably save me a lot of trouble," Zim admitted, his tone without emotion. Tak's eyes bulged in utter bewilderment. Zim wanted to die? Saving her life was already questionable for any Irken considering the circumstances. But admitting to having suicidal thoughts? Abandoning a mission? That was just unfathomable for _any _Irken, including someone like Zim. Sure, Zim's mission was fake, but he didn't know that. Did he?

"Then why not just deactivate yourself?" she asked frantically.

"Because I want to live." Tak scowled at Zim's contradiction to her previous thoughts. Her frustration threatened to boil over into a furious anger. She had never been more confused in her entire life.

"Alright Zim, what the hell is going on?" she demanded. "Why are you acting so... so _weird_?"

"I'd rather not tell you. You would just use it against me." Tak didn't respond. He was right. She absolutely would use any bit of information she gleaned from Zim to help her plans. Tak turned her head and rested face-down on the table, closing her eyes. She found it hard to continue looking at Zim while she was still so baffled by his behavior. She was having a confusing internal struggle. She was trying to find any reason why Zim would be acting in such a way. Trying to figure out why he had saved her life. Trying to figure out why he was fixing her PAK if he knew she was going to kill him once she could move again.

Trying to figure out whether it was even worth it to even kill him. That thought was the most confusing of all. She heard footsteps as Zim assumedly headed to the exit of the room. They stopped after a moment, but Tak could sense he was still in the room with her.

"I'm going to check on the repairs to your SIR unit," Zim explained calmly. "It's delaying the repairs on my Voot, and now my plans have been pushed back." Tak heard him pause for a few moments before he continued. "Don't bother trying to break the restraints. You wouldn't be able to in your state, anyways." Tak said nothing. She kept her eyes closed, trying to ignore the numb throbbing that escaped the painkiller's wrath. She also was trying to block out Zim's voice. She had already heard enough of it all those years back. And this macro-dosage of his grating tone was beginning to give her a headache. Her confused thoughts weren't helping in that regard.

"You're welcome, by the way," Zim added.

"I had no intention of thanking you, Zim," Tak responded, coldly.

"I didn't think you did."

Tak heard the door close, and she was left alone to tend to her wildly buzzing thoughts.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, this was easily the hardest chapter I’ve written so far. It was honestly a total mess to write, and I’m still not sure if I’m satisfied with how it turned out. Knowing me though, I probably would have spent another week or so pouring over this chapter before I felt completely satisfied, probably even longer. What’s the saying? An artist is never satisfied with their work? Something like that.  
Sorry it took so long. I’m trying to make these updates more frequent, but I’m clearly failing at that. Ah well, hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. Please keep up those reviews! I desperately want to know what you guys think of this chapter, and the story in general. Especially since I’m unsure about the quality of this chapter. But I’ll let the readers decide that rather than make myself go crazy over what else could be done to increase the quality.  
Hope to hear from you all in the reviews!

"I don't like this," a gruff voice told her. The Meekrobian was shaking his head behind her seat, looking absolutely furious. "This is fucking stupid. I can't believe Lard Nar agreed to this."

It was definitely possible that this might be a mistake, but something in her squeedly spooch told her that it was the right choice. Their last operation had not been as successful as they had hoped. Everyone knew the risks going in, and everyone surely knew that they might not make it out alive. Unfortunately, they lost just about every fighter they sent. And yet, all they managed was to temporarily interrupt the Massive's flight path. If they had more time, they might have been able to send out another attack team for another try while the Massive was metaphorically grounded. But there was no way another team could reach the Armada before they brought in reinforcements and repaired the Massive. Not to mention they did not want to risk losing more resistance fighters. On top of that, the Tallest would surely be far better prepared for another attack after such a blow.

The Resisty was going to need help. And it may have just been handed to them on a silver platter.

"What the hell makes you think bringing Zim here is a good idea?" the Meekrobian asked her. He was floating behind her as she sat at her computer station. It had been a few hours since their call from Zim, and most of that time had been spent planning for his arrival. Well, more accurately, debating on whether his arrival was even a good idea. There were many doubts, of course. Just about everyone at that meeting voiced their concerns. In fact, outside of Lard Nar, she seemed to be the only one defending the decision.

"We could use another Irken," she explained, turning to the Meekrobian. "Not to mention he has information on the Armada that we don't."

"We have the Vortians working on that," the Meekrobian grunted, clearly agitated.

"And how much longer is that gonna take?" she asked, frantically. "How many more planets are going to get wiped out before they finally crack into the data?" She paused and let out a heavy breath. The Meekrobian's attitude was beginning to get to her. "Honestly, their people built the damn thing. You'd think they'd have no problems breaking in." The Meekrobian shook his head at her.

"They're not just trying to break through Vortian tech," he explained. "Much of the operating system has been replaced with Irken programming. They clearly have their own modified software in place to keep out any potential rebel Vortians."

She turned away from him and back to her monitor. She had been searching through any information they had on so-called Invader Zim ever since his sudden transmission. She always had her suspicions that Zim was a Defective. In fact, she'd wager a guess that every Irken did. Now that his status was confirmed, she was infinitely curious about the strange Irken. She wondered if the Tallest knew. Surely they would have had him terminated if they did. Zim was alive though, so they must not have known. Right?

She found quite a lot of files on Zim. Most of them were past broadcasts of Zim's antics on Earth, courtesy of the Tallest. She couldn't deny she found them very amusing in the past, but given the current circumstances, she actually felt quite bad for the Irken. He had been living a lie, all in what he thought was in service to the Tallest. To the Irken Empire, he was a mistake that should have been 'corrected' long ago. Obviously, she could empathize with that.

More than just the previously hilarious videos, she had also pulled up records of his service. Of course, his past transgressions against the Empire were at the forefront of the information. Operation Impending Doom I, the incidents that led to the death of two former Tallest, it was all there. Buried under the massive number of incidents was his entire military record. While he wasn't exactly the most competent soldier, she couldn't deny that he had a knack for destruction. Even his wild plans on Earth were impressive, silly as they were. On top of that, he was able to obtain information from the Armada by breaking into their network. Even a team of Vortians had not accomplished such a feat. If they could somehow harness Zim's potential, they might have a real chance.

"We can't afford to wait any longer," she finally said, breaking out of her thoughts. "We need him."

"He's already said he won't betray the Empire," the Meekrobian said, desperately trying to persuade her. "He won't give up the information."

"Maybe not right away, but we can try to convince him to. Allowing him to come to Meekrob is the first step. All he wants is somewhere to go. Somewhere that isn't Irk or Earth. We need to get him to trust us. Then we can try to persuade him to give us what we want." A long pause silenced the room. She stared pleadingly at the Meekrobian, trying to get him to understand.

"And if we can't?" he asked. She smiled and shook her head.

"One bridge at a time, Narin," she chided. "Why are you so against this?"

"He's a Defective," Narin insisted. "This could be extremely dangerous for us. There's no telling what he could do. What makes you think he won't betray us?"

"I haven't betrayed you yet, have I?" she asked accusingly.

Narin had no reply. He turned away and headed towards the exit of the room. Before he crossed the threshold, she had heard him speak once more.

"You'd better be right about this, Tenn."

* * *

Zim sat on the couch in his living room, staring up at the ceiling and trying to drown out the noise from whatever ridiculous Earth programming Gir was watching. The little robot sat across the couch from him with Minimoose hovering close by. Zim felt absolutely exhausted. The past several hours had taken quite a toll on him, both physically and emotionally. His failed attempt at destroying Dib, Tak's unexpected return, and his plans being pushed back. Not to mention he could not stop dwelling on his PAK's Defective status.

All of these strange feelings, these emotions, they were really screwing with Zim's head. His thoughts were uncomfortable and uncontrollable. He couldn't focus them on any one thing. They constantly flew from one thought to another. He hated it. Zim wanted nothing more than to induce unconsciousness for a few hours and come back with a fresh mind. Unfortunately, such a move would not be very intelligent. After all, there was a merciless, vengeful Irken laying in his medical bay getting treatment. An Irken who would surely attempt to kill him as soon as her PAK finished treating her wounds.

Zim had last checked on the repairs of Tak's PAK only an hour ago. From what he could tell, her PAK was just about fully operational, though he made sure to temporarily disable anything non-medical that could help her escape her restraints. Now all that could be done was to wait until the medicinal protocols worked their magic. It probably wouldn't take too long. The PAK was a marvel of Irken engineering. Even Zim didn't quite know exactly how it operated.

What was going to happen once Tak was healed? Should Zim release her? It was a stupid question, of course he shouldn't. The moment he released her restraints, Tak would surely come for Zim's life. She would take her revenge for all of Zim's past actions that destroyed her life. Zim knew there really wasn't much he could do to sway her. In that case, maybe it was best to leave her restrained. But then what? Would he keep Tak trapped in his base? Would he leave her there once he was ready to leave for Meekrob? Maybe the humans would finally break in and find her. She'd be immediately whisked away to the closest human medical facility to be prepped for vivisection.

Zim cringed at the thought. No, that wouldn't do at all. Even Tak didn't deserve such a fate. She may have come to Earth to kill Zim, but strangely, Zim found that he couldn't really hold that against her. Not only was she an Irken, but she had every reason to want revenge against Zim. He had completely destroyed her life, in many ways. Zim had never really dwelled on it before. But, now armed with all the information he had gathered over the past week, he was starting to see the situation in a new light. He was a Defective, so it would make sense that his actions must have had consequences for others.

He found it disgusting that he even cared.

Damning his Defective PAK once more, Zim raced his mind to find a solution to the problem. Perhaps the only way to move forward would be to convince Tak to form a truce with him. Yeah, and maybe he could convince Gir to stop eating tacos. An impossible feat, surely. What could he even say to the Irken to calm her down? Even after he had saved her life, she still clearly held her vindictive feelings towards Zim. He wasn't so sure that a mere apology would make up for completely destroying her life.

"Master? You okay?" Gir suddenly spoke up, staring curiously at Zim. The alien broke out of his thoughts and snapped his head to his minion.

"I'm fine, Gir," he tried to reassure the robot. Gir continued to stare, seemingly inspecting every bit of Zim's face.

"You don't look fine!" he almost shouted. Zim grunted in annoyance. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about this with his seemingly insane robot minion.

"Just watch your show," Zim waved at the television, hoping the conversation would cease. It did not.

"Are you thinkin' 'bout that lady?"

"..."

"I like her."

Zim drowned out the conversation. Gir liked everyone and everything, so his opinion wasn't exactly useful.

"Is that so?" Zim droned.

"And I like her kitty," Gir added.

"I'm sure you do, Gir."

The repairs to Tak's SIR unit had already been completed for a few hours, but Zim knew better than to activate it. Mimi was as loyal to Tak as Gir was to Zim. There was no way Zim would survive an encounter without Tak there to call it back. For now, Zim let the SIR unit continue to sit inactive in the repair bay while the Computer switched its efforts to the Voot Cruiser.

He needed to figure out what to do about Tak. Deciding that he needed more information, he got off the couch and headed for the kitchen. Maybe he could find something on Tak that would help him talk her down.

After the elevator finished descending to his computer room, Zim headed straight towards the console. He activated the display and called out.

"Computer!" he shouted up at the ceiling. "Search the information we gathered from the Massive for anything related to Tak."

**"Searching..."**

Zim wasn't really sure how much there would be on Tak, but it was worth a try. He was mostly interested in seeing her military records. Zim was convinced that there was no way he was going to persuade Tak to stand down. If he was going to have to defend himself against Tak's fury, then he wanted to know everything there was to know about Tak's military training. Perhaps she had some sort of weakness that could be exploited.

Zim tapped his fingers at the console impatiently as he waited for his AI to complete the search.

"Hurry up!" he shouted angrily. "What's taking so long?"

"**Hey, there's a lot of stuff here," **the Computer whined."**If you want to search through it manually by yourself, be my guest."**

"Right," Zim sighed, nodding to himself and feeling slightly bad about his outburst. "Sorry."

"**...Did you just apologize?"**

Zim's eyes widened at the observation. He didn't even realize he had said it until the Computer had pointed it out. He... apologized? That couldn't be right. _Why _did he apologize? Zim never apologizes for anything! It just slipped out without a single thought. Zim felt a slight panic in is brain as he processed the information. First all those disgusting new emotions, and now this? Something was wrong, and he knew it was because of his PAK. Zim was changing in substantial ways, and he knew it.

It scared him.

"Yeah," Zim said quietly. "I guess I did."

The Computer merely continued with its search without any further inquiry. Zim took a moment to reflect. Is this what it was like? To have a Defective PAK? All these strange feelings, the stress on his personality, why hadn't he felt them before? If he had always been a Defective, surely he would have realized something was wrong with him long ago. It wasn't until he found out about his PAK's status that he began to question himself. It was as if the revelation had opened up his brain to further corruption. He felt his mind spiraling further and further out of control each day.

It was the reason that Dib was still alive. Tak, too. Had he not been a Defective, both of them would have perished without a second thought. There would have been no mercy, no sympathy. No pathetic emotions to cloud his mind and keep him from doing right by the Irken Empire. Hell, had he not been a Defective, he might have even had a real shot at becoming an actual Invader. He could have had a real mission. There might not have been a need for Operation Impending Doom II. Tallest Spork and Tallest Miyuki might still be alive.

It was pointless to dwell on any of that, Zim decided. What's past is in the past, and what matters is the present. He shoved out any thoughts about his PAK, his emotions, every strange feeling he had was desperately being blocked out. He needed to focus on Tak. His life quite literally depended on it.

"**Search complete," **the Computer finally announced, interrupting Zim's thoughts.** "Listing results."**

The screen scrolled rapidly as it filled up with many different entries. Zim raised his antennae in interest. He did not expect so many results. He quickly skimmed the subject lines of the list, looking for anything to catch his eye. There were several entries about her military training, chronicling her climb to the Irken Elites. She had never made it, of course, and Zim knew exactly why. Not wanting to go down that mental path, Zim shook his head and continued skimming. He decided to start simple and brought up her PAK profile. He had not gotten a chance to perform a software maintenance on Tak's PAK, so he had not yet seen the profile. The screen shifted, showing a profile shot of Tak in the upper left corner. Irken text typed its way out onto the screen.

_NAME: TAK_

_RANK: JANITOR_

_STATUS: ABANDONED POST, PRESUMED DEAD_

Zim gasped at the last line of the profile, confused beyond belief. He thought of his own PAK profile and realized that Tak's was far more up to date than Zim's and he had absolutely no idea why that was. In Zim's case, it sort of made sense. The Tallest, and presumably the Control Brains, apparently did not seem to bother with updating his profile. His status was still listed as banished to Foodcourtia. Zim figured that he was supposed to eventually die when he was sent on his fake mission, so it was reasonable to assume that the Tallest wouldn't bother with updating his information. Not that it mattered anymore, as he no longer had a connection to the Massive. Even if they wanted to re-program his PAK's profile, they no longer had the means to do so.

Tak, on the other hand, was a completely different story. She wasn't sent on a fake mission, she had been assigned to Dirt for janitorial duty. After around fifty Earth years of service, she left her assigned duty to seek out Zim's mission.

"Hmm," Zim hummed in thought. He had never put much speculation into Tak's abandonment before, but now something told him that information was important. She had left her post. She had disobeyed a direct order. Bells rang off in Zim's head. He closed out of Tak's PAK profile and continued skimming the other entries. He brought up a few notes on her military training.

There were only a few entires, but all of them had similar aspects. There was plenty of analysis of her training, her combat skills, and her potential as an Irken Elite. But, there were also entries that portrayed important notes for the Tallest specifically. They almost sounded like warnings. Zim opened up one of the entries and began reading the transcript. It was dated quite a few cycles before Operation Impending Doom I.

"_My Tallest,_

_We had an incident today with one of the privates, Tak. I know we have spoken briefly about her before, and you both have made your opinions loud and clear. I understand that she has the most potential out of any Irken in Squad 45-S, but with all due respect my Tallest, I still think that continuing her training would be a mistake. She is brash, cocky, and has shown signs of defiance in the past. She has already disobeyed orders once before (if you don't remember, please view my previous message) and she seems to question everything her higher ups tell her. She seems to have no regard for her squad mates and thinks only for herself._

_I understand it's not wise to jump to conclusions, but I worry what might happen if this is allowed to continue. Tak is unlike any soldier I've ever trained. Her skills are unquestionable, that is for sure. She is competent in ways that would make some Irken Elites look like food service drones. Her ground combat is exceptional for a new recruit, and she definitely knows her way around a Spittle Runner. There is no question that she has the potential to become an Invader. Perhaps even one of your best._

_However, I worry about her attitude. I worry about her actions in basic training. I worry about what could become of Operation Impending Doom if she is allowed to become one of the Irken Elites. Of course, this is all just speculation. I won't bother repeating myself anymore, as I'm sure you've heard it enough from me in the past. She seems to be quite adept at mechanical engineering. Perhaps you could change her assignment to be an engineering drone? Just something to consider. If you still wish to continue her training, then of course I will comply with your orders. I only ask that you at least keep an eye on her. She could be trouble._

_Irken Elite Gru, signing off."_

Zim read and re-read the entry several times, absorbing the knowledge as efficiently as he could. It was no surprise that the Irken who had written it had commended Tak for her skills as an Irken soldier. Zim had seen it himself when Tak had first come to Earth. He never would have admitted it before, but Zim knew that Tak's plan was not only brilliant, but expertly executed as well. The only reason she had failed was because of Zim's interference, as well as help from the Membrane children. Now that he was looking back on it, he felt a heavy fear well up in his body. Tak could have easily killed Zim all those years ago had he not sought out help in stopping her. It was clear that in a one-on-one situation, Tak would easily come out victorious.

Zim shuddered in a mixture of fear and anticipation, as he was reminded that the Irken was still strapped down in his medical bay.

What struck Zim as _really _odd were the mentions of disobedience. Tak, presumably, was as loyal to the Irken Empire as he used to be. It was completely baffling that an Irken such as herself would ever disobey their superiors. This entry seemed to be dated towards the earlier cycles of Tak's training. It wasn't that hard to reason as a soldier, she was still green yet cocky. Knowing Tak as much as he did, he figured it wasn't that out of the ordinary for her to question authority if it meant getting a chance to prove herself. Still, an Irken disobeying orders. That was definitely something for Zim to keep in the back of his mind.

He closed out of the entry and brought up another. It was yet another older entry, though it was more recent than the last.

"_My Tallest,_

_We have completed the evacuation of Devastis and have gathered a list of all testers that were affected by the blackout. Unfortunately, considering that roughly half of the planet was completely shut down, there are far too many Irken soldiers to accommodate for make-up tests in such a short amount of time. I have attached the complete list to this message. I've taken the liberty of going through it and making my own notes. You will find who I recommend for a re-test, and who I recommend for reassignment based on various factors. I can go into more detail in person if you like, but hopefully this will do for now. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns._

_General Nol, signing off."_

The blackout. Zim remembered clearly. It's where the imminent rivalry between Zim and Tak had first started without either of them even knowing. Suddenly, a realization appeared out of nowhere. When Tak first revealed herself to Zim all those years ago, she had given the implication that the blackout made it impossible for Irkens to retake the test without waiting another seventy years. And yet, this message contradicted that notion. If it was possible for a number of the affected Irkens to retake the test to become one of the Irken Elites, why was Tak not chosen?

He immediately opened the attachment and was greeted with an absolutely massive list of potential Irken Elites. Not really caring about the other Irkens, he scanned through the list for Tak's name. Sure enough, not a moment later and he found her entry.

_TAK_

_SQUAD 45-S_

_TESTING BLOCK 05-R, POD 155_

_UNSTABLE DEMEANOR, LACK OF OBEDIENCE, WORRYING AMOUNT OF FREE WILL, RECOMMEND REASSIGNMENT UNTIL NEXT TESTING PHASE_

There was that note about her disobedience once more. It seemed her behavior during her training was enough to convince the General that Tak was not suitable enough to warrant taking the test again, at least not until the following testing phase. Zim peered in closer and focused his view on the last line of information. 'Worrying amount of free will?' What exactly did that mean? It most likely had to do with her disobedience, but there had to be something more to it. Zim wasn't sure what, but he had an inkling of an idea what was going on. He still had to confirm his suspicions. He continued looking through the entries until he found a more recent transcript. It was dated not long after Zim had been 'assigned' to Earth.

"_My Tallest,_

_I am calling to inform you that one of our janitorial drones, Tak, has fled her post. We are unsure how exactly she was able to slip away. We suspect that she was able to salvage one of the junk ships littered around the planet. We've seen her profile, and we know how capable she is with mechanical engineering. We don't know where she might be headed, and we do not have a trace on her._

_I'd like to formally apologize for my incompetence. I am ashamed to be an Irken._

_Yan, head of Janitorial Services on Dirt, signing off."_

This entry didn't really tell Zim anything he didn't already know, but it did bring Tak's abandonment of her post to the front of his mind once more. Zim couldn't shake the feeling away. He knew exactly where this might be headed, and he didn't like it one bit. If his suspicions were true, the last thing he wanted to do would be to face Tak again. He closed out of the entry and decided to look at one more. It was the most recent entry in the search pool.

"_An important note to all active Irken Soldiers and Invaders,_

_We are currently searching for a missing Irken. Her name is Tak, and she was last heard from in a transmission sent to us from somewhere near that Earth planet. She does not have a call sign, but we know she is flying in a modified old-style Spittle Runner. She is a traitor to the Irken Empire and must be brought before us to answer for her crimes. If found, you are to contact us immediately for further instructions. Failure to do so will result in a charge of treason. _

_Glory to the Irken Empire_

_Almighty Tallest Red and Almighty Tallest Purple"_

Zim nearly lost his composure as his jaw shot wide open. His suspicions were confirmed, he knew exactly what this meant.

Zim needed to talk to Tak. Now.

* * *

The pain had finally stopped, at least somewhat. It was no longer excruciating at least, but Tak's body still throbbed in a numb pain as her newly fixed PAK worked to repair the damage. She could practically feel the slow process of her bones resetting themselves and her bloody gashes closing up. The robotic arms had long stopped their probing of her PAK. She lay face down on the table, eyes closed and trying to block out everything around her. She had been mentally exhausted ever since she had woken up in Zim's medical bay.

She was still restrained, of course. Tak wondered how long that would last. Surely Zim wouldn't be stupid enough to release her. He knew her intentions, and he had already told her that he intended to live. No, he would probably keep her strapped down until he had some way of getting rid of her. Of course, killing her would have done just that, but Zim had just saved her life. He clearly had no intention of killing her. She still couldn't understand why. As far as she knew, Zim was still the same insane Irken she had come to know all those years ago.

Except, that wasn't exactly true. Her brief conversation with Zim many hours earlier had proven that. Zim did not speak to her in his usual grandiose tones. In fact, he had seemed quite calm given the circumstances. If she didn't know any better, she might hazard a guess that Zim had become more reserved. It had to have been an act, she reasoned. But, if it _was _an act, there was still the mystery of why he had saved her life. What could possibly cause such a change within the irritating Irken?

Tak's antennae twitched at the sound of a door opening. Zim had entered the room and walked directly up to Tak. He stood in front of the table, staring directly at her. She couldn't discern what he was thinking, as his face was a confusing contortion of many different emotions. She glared defiantly at him, narrowing her eyes in an evil stare. Zim opened his mouth to say something, but he hesitated as his antennae were drawn to the back of his head. He made a few starts, clearly trying to speak to Tak, but he constantly stumbled over his words. Tak hissed in annoyance.

"What? Spit it out! What do you want?" Tak demanded angrily. She waited a few moments for Zim to speak. He was still completely speechless, clearly trying to find a way to begin whatever conversation he came down here to have. Tak raised an eye at the display. This was definitely new for Zim. He was nothing if not loud and obnoxious. To see him unable to even find words to say was completely baffling.

"Your PAK is fixed," Zim finally said meekly.

"I'm well aware," Tak droned flatly.

"How do you feel?" Tak almost couldn't believe she heard the question. She cocked her head in confusion.

"Why do you care?" Tak asked seriously. He opened his mouth once more to speak, but stopped himself and sighed in defeat. Tak turned away from Zim, not wishing to look at him anymore. She wished he would just leave, so she could start planning her escape. She could see him in her peripheral, standing rigidly in the same spot and refusing to budge. She groaned internally at whatever ridiculous nonsense he wanted to say to her. She really did not care to hear. She just wanted to finish what she came here for.

"You asked why I was acting so weird," Zim said almost wearily. Suddenly, Tak was very interested in what Zim had to say, if only to sate her own curiosity. It was clear that _something _had happened to Zim to change him in such a way, and she couldn't help but feel the need to know what it was.

"I thought you didn't want to tell me?" Tak asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, well, that was before..." Zim trailed off, apparently catching himself before he said too much. He shook his head and turned his gaze away from Tak. "It doesn't matter, anyways." Tak said nothing, but eyed him suspiciously. It seemed that despite his desire for what was clearly an important conversation, he was still going to hide things from her. That was to be expected. She was technically his prisoner after all, and she severely doubted that he trusted her enough to say too much. Turning back to Tak, Zim continued with a question.

"Do you remember our last encounter?" Tak scoffed at Zim.

"Of course I do," she said, rolling her eyes. "It would be hard to forget the moment my life life was ruined a second time." She shot her words venomously at Zim, who seemed to shrink just a little bit. Not out of fear, Tak realized, but out of... guilt? That couldn't be right.

"Right," Zim shakily replied. "Well, you told me something that day. You told me my mission was a lie." Tak twitched her antennae in interest. Had he finally figured it out? Had he finally realized the true nature of his fake mission? She smirked evilly at the dejected Irken. Oh, she couldn't wait to rip into him. She was going to enjoy watching Zim spill his guts out right in front of her. She could practically feel the sadness in Zim's expression.

Wait, sadness? Huh, that's odd.

Zim didn't continue, apparently satisfied that Tak got the hint. After a moment of silence between the two, Tak decided to coax more out of Zim.

"So you finally figured it out," Tak said smugly. "Took you long enough." Zim merely nodded, a slight scowl appearing on his face.

"Go ahead and gloat, Tak," Zim said dejectedly. "Nothing you say can hurt Zim more than _they _already have."

"You mean the Tallest?" Tak said.

"Yes. Red and Purple." Tak immediately began laughing. "And what exactly is it that you find so funny?" Zim accused. Tak composed herself before speaking.

"You idolize those two more than any Irken in existence," she explained. "And here you are belittling them by not using their formal names."

"I don't have to," Zim said. "They're not _my _Tallest anymore." Now _that _was surprising. She couldn't imagine any Irken showing any form of disrespect for the Almighty Tallest. Especially not Zim, of all people. They may have betrayed him, but Tak never imagined his usually unwavering adoration for the Tallest would ever break for any reason.

"So you've defected," Tak said in a surprising realization. She smirked and let out a small giggle. "Fitting for a Defective little worm like you." She meant the comment to be a petty jab at Zim. She actually had no idea if he was a Defective, though she certainly wouldn't be surprised if he was. Zim clearly took the comment far more seriously than she expected. He narrowed his eyes and cried out in frustration.

"You knew too?" Zim's voice cracked under the intense shout of his accusation. "Damn it, why the hell did everyone suspect it but me?" Tak gasped in slight shock. So, it was true then. Zim was a Defect. It definitely explained quite a lot about his past.

"Hah," Tak mocked, rolling her eyes. "Leave it to you to ignore the obvious. Poor little Zim, so unbelievably loyal to his Tallest, only to realize his entire life was a mistake." Zim growled dangerously at her. She felt quite satisfied with herself, being able to rile the Irken up so much.

"And what about you, Tak?" Zim accused furiously. Tak raised an eye in confusion. What was he talking about?

"What about me?" she asked suspiciously.

"Are you still loyal to the Irken Empire?" Zim asked with no hint of sarcasm. Tak almost wanted to laugh, were she not so offended by the question.

"What kind of idiotic question is that?" she demanded viciously. "_Of course _I live to serve the Empire, you moron!"

"Then why did you leave your post on Dirt?"

Suddenly, Tak was at a loss for words.

"I- That was..." She stumbled over her speech, desperately searching for an answer that would satisfy not only Zim, but herself. She came up with nothing. She narrowed her eyes at Zim. "What exactly are you getting at?"

"You abandoned your assignment," Zim told her pointedly. "You disobeyed the Control Brains, and by proxy, your Tallest. For all intents and purposes, you betrayed the Irken Empire." If Irkens had a heart, Tak would surely feel hers begin to drop. She didn't like what Zim was starting to imply, and she was going to make sure he knew it.

"You and I _both _know I did not deserve to be on that miserable planet!" she practically screamed at him. She closed her eyes in fury. "I should have been an Invader, damn it!"

"But you weren't assigned as an Invader, were you?" Tak wished oh so badly that she wasn't currently incapacitated by the metal restraints. That smug little shit would get what was coming to him soon enough.

"Shut up, Zim!" Tak shouted, violently twisting and turning her body in a vain attempt at breaking herself free. She flinched as she felt pain wrack her body. "I swear to Irk I will eviscerate you the moment I free myself!"

"Do you wanna know how I found out I was a Defective, Tak?" There was no hint of smugness in Zim's voice. It was almost soft, understanding. Zim continued as Tak forced her gaze away from him. For the first time since he entered the room, Zim began moving. He was pacing back and forth as he explained himself to Tak. "It was only a few days ago. I spent many Earth moons trying to gain access to the Massive's information network. And when I finally broke through, I was not happy with what I found. I had been deemed Defective. For how long, I have no idea. But the Tallest knew, and they knew long before they banished me to this planet." He stopped pacing and turned towards Tak. "There was other information in there too, as I'm sure you can guess. What surprised me was that there was quite a lot of information on you, Tak."

"W-what? What kind of information?" Tak couldn't help but feel worried about what she was about to hear.

"Mostly notes on your combat training," Zim explained, continuing to pace. "If it makes you feel any better, everything I've read has praised your skills as a soldier. Even the Tallest knew you had potential to become one of the greatest Invaders Irk had ever known." Tak felt a bit of pride at that. Despite the uncomfortable conversation, she couldn't help but feel glad that her Tallest held high opinions of her combat prowess. Unfortunately, her proud thoughts were cut off by Zim's continued explanation.

"But there was a problem. You did not fit the mold of a perfect, obedient Irken soldier. You questioned your orders. You even disobeyed some of them. You had too much free will, too much free thought. The higher ups in the Irken Elites had warned your Tallest about their worries. Red and Purple looked past it, hoping to gain another great Invader. But they couldn't ignore the problem for long." Tak said nothing, too shocked to trust her voice. The things he was saying felt all too familiar to her. Was he really telling the truth? How else would he know of her days in training? It was possible that Zim was just making it all up, but Tak couldn't shake the nagging feeling that the Irken was telling the truth.

"You remember the blackout, I'm sure," Zim asked.

"The one _you_ caused?" she spat at him. He nodded, looking oddly regretful.

"The very same, yes. You might not know this, but not everyone who was affected were assigned to different roles. Many of them were able to retake the test before the period had ended."

"What?" Tak interrupted angrily. "You're lying!" Zim shook his head sadly.

"I am not," he said. "I can show you the files, if you like." Tak said nothing to that. Even if Zim did have access to these apparent files on her, she didn't want to see them.

"If there really was another testing period, then why was I reassigned to Dirt?" Tak asked, after spending a few silent moments deep in thought.

"Because an Irken General recommended it, based on your previous actions and behavior." Zim stopped pacing and stood directly in front of Tak. He pulled down a sleeve and revealed a wrist communicator. He started tapping away at the controls. "Let me ask you something, Tak. What exactly do you plan to do after you kill me?" Tak took a moment before answering.

"I..." she started hesitantly. "I'll return to the Armada with news of your death. I'll be praised for carrying out the assassination, and be reassigned to a position more suited to my skills."

"Wrong."

Zim finished tapping on his wrist and a small holographic display appeared. He held the display up to Tak so she could read what was written.

It was a message from the Tallest sent to all active Irken soldiers and Invaders.

She couldn't believe it. She _wouldn't _believe it. Her breaths became erratic and uncontrollable. The room echoed with her gasps as she began to hyperventilate.

"Returning to either Irk or the Armada would be a death sentence for you," Zim said softly. "Just as it would be for me."

"No... No!" Tak denied it. She would deny it until the day she died. Zim was lying. It wasn't real. She was knocked out unconscious and her PAK was displaying some kind of horrifying nightmare. She was dead and this is what the afterlife had in store for her. Any excuse she could find to make herself believe that none of it was true. It didn't help. Zim sighed in empathy.

"I'm sorry Tak," he almost whispered. "You and I... well, we're kind of in the same situation here."

"No!" she screamed desperately, thrashing her body once more against the restraints. "You're lying! I'm not like you! I'm not a Defective! I'm not!"

"Have you ever noticed any strange feelings in the past?" Zim asked. "Things you couldn't explain? Irrational thoughts unbecoming of an Irken?"

"S-shut up!" She desperately wanted to be left alone. She wanted Zim to get the hell away from her. She didn't want to hear anymore.

"Irkens do not show certain emotions," Zim said. "There are receptors in our PAKs that block out certain chemicals from reaching our brains. Normally, the PAK is able to block out whatever the Empire doesn't want us to feel. In a Defective Pak, however-"

Zim was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream that shook him. His antennae twitched at the vicious sound. Tak continued to thrash about on the table, desperately trying to break free. She wouldn't entertain this conversation anymore. She refused to listen to anything else Zim might have to say. She wasn't going to let him speak again. She couldn't take it anymore.

After what felt like an eternity, Tak's screams subsided as she began to calm down slightly. She could feel tears in her eye. Tears? Irkens didn't cry. Why was she crying? Why did she feel so... helpless? What the hell was going on? She was an Irken, damn it! She should never allow an enemy to see her so vulnerable and unstable.

No longer able to bear looking at Zim, Tak slammed her head down on the table and closed her eyes. A disgusting silence had permeated the room before she heard footsteps leading away from her. Zim was leaving the room. Good.

"I will be leaving Earth soon," she heard the alien say. "I can not return to Irk, and I no longer desire to live on this filthy planet. I know we have our differences, but I want you to know that you're welcome to join me. Surely dealing with my company for a short time would be preferable to termination by the Control Brains, yes?"

Tak refused to answer. She did not trust herself to answer. She couldn't even think straight. She was processing so much at such a fast rate. She was surprised her PAK had not been overloaded by now. Well, maybe not too surprised considering she was a-

No, she wouldn't entertain the idea. She wouldn't. She wasn't like him. She heard Zim's voice once more.

"I'm sorry, Tak. For everything."

The door closed, once again leaving Tak alone with her thoughts.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update:
> 
> Okay, let's try this again.
> 
> This is a repost of this chapter. I had to take the original down and do some rewrites after it was pointed out that I made a fairly big canonical error. It seems I had forgotten a pretty big detail about a couple of the episodes. It's not too serious and it isn't a threat to the story as a whole, but damn it I care about staying consistent to the canon of the show. I'm honestly pretty embarrassed, and I'm sorry for not realizing it before I originally posted this chapter. Special thanks to Invader Johnny and Zim'sMostFaithfulServant on FF.net for pointing out the error. I'll do my best to not let something like this happen again in the future.
> 
> Original notes:
> 
> I'm really sorry for how long this chapter took. I've been pretty damn sick over the past week or so, and didn't have the motivation to write. I'm getting better, thankfully.  
Also, we hit 10K views! Holy hell! I dunno if that's a lot for the average story for this site, but goddamn it's certainly a lot to me! I can't tell you how happy I am that this story has taken off in such a big way. It means so much to me. Seriously, I can't even put it into words. All your kind words in the reviews warm my heart! Thank you all so much! Here's to 10K more views!
> 
> We're very close to really getting this story started! Six (now seven) chapters, over 40K words, and we still haven't gotten to the really good stuff. At least, I certainly hope it's going to be good. We'll just have to wait and see. Sometimes I wonder if I'm moving the story too slow considering what I have planned, but I know rushing things will only do a disservice to the story.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter! Writing it was a little rough, but I did my darndest. You know the drill, send me those reviews!

The past two days had completely shell-shocked Dib.

Near death experiences can do that to anyone.

Dib didn't recall much of what happened after Zim had discovered him at the base. He remembered the choking grip of the claw, and after that, nothing. Next thing he knew, he had awoken in his bed with a dull pain. He almost chuckled humorlessly when he had first gotten a look at himself in the mirror. With the black eye, as well as the bruised face and throat, it looked like he had been in some kind of brutal bar fight. In terms of bodily harm, he'd probably been through worse before. Sure, it hurt mildly, but it still wasn't as bad as a broken bone. No, what really affected him was the psychological horror of nearly being killed.

And just like the previous encounter with Zim, Dib found it strange that he wasn't killed.

After Dib first woke up, Gaz explained that she found him unconscious in front of the door. Someone had rung the doorbell. Of course, the only one who could have brought him there was Zim or one of his lackeys. But that didn't make sense. Wasn't Zim supposed to kill him? It sure seemed like that was going to be Dib's end. And yet, it wasn't. Did Zim have a change of heart? Or... whatever organ the alien had? Dib was starting to wonder if Zim even had it in him to pull it off.

It didn't matter anyway. Zim would be gone in less than five days. Dib was starting to get sick of thinking about it. Despite everything he learned when he infiltrated Zim's base, his mind still spent the last two days trying to figure out exactly what the hell was going on. And what he was going to do. What was going to happen after Zim left? Dib spent so long chasing that damn Irken. It was over now, and Dib didn't even get to feel the satisfaction of a win. Surely he should feel good that the Earth was no longer in danger of being taken over, or destroyed, by Zim. There were still worried thoughts tickling the back of his mind. At the moment, he was thinking about to what to do with all his data.

There were so many files. A lot more than Dib ever gave any real thought to. Pictures, videos, transcripts, data logs stolen from Zim's base, and so much more were all contained on a single hard drive in his computer. He had been filling it for years. Ever since Dib first saw Zim enter his classroom, he documented absolutely everything that he could. He intended to send the data to the Swollen Eyeball Network. In fact, he did so on a few occasions in the past. Unfortunately, while his online peers always showed some level of support, they were always wary of believing Dib's claims. The evidence, while plentiful, was never concrete enough to sway anyone. There were always doubts. He heard it all before from his fellow agents.

_"How do we know this isn't just a doctored image?"_

_"This data means nothing to us. For all we know, you could have created this as a hoax."_

_"Interesting, but this isn't enough. We need more."_

It was never enough. They always needed more.

Dib sat silently in his chair as he stared at his computer screen. He was contemplating his options. Zim was going to leave Earth, so the data wasn't much use to Dib anymore. A small part of him wondered if he should just delete it all. Of course, he'd never do that. Even if the Earth was no longer in danger at the moment, that didn't mean he should let all his hard work go to waste. Besides, the drive wasn't just filled with information about Zim. Over the years, he had been able to glean information about the Irken Empire itself. Not much, but at least enough to get started. Unfortunately, Dib doubted he would be able to acquire anything else after Zim left Earth.

Still, there was always the threat of another Irken eventually coming to Earth. They had sent a so-called Defective Irken to Earth. It seemed to Dib that Zim's mission was more of an exile than anything. If that were true, it could be possible that the Irken Empire had no interest in Earth. However, the Irken Empire's goal was total domination of the galaxies. Perhaps Earth might not be on their to-do list right now, but what happens if they decide that Earth is valuable enough to change plans? Zim had certainly sent them an awful lot of information about humans. It was plausible to think his leaders could find something that would be useful to the Empire. Even if his speculation never panned out, it would probably be good for the Swollen Eyeball Network to have an archive of everything that Dib had gathered.

He made his decision. He put on his headset, opened up a window on his computer and sent the call. After a few moments, the dark silhouetted figure of Agent Darkbootie appeared on screen.

"Agent Mothman," he nodded.

"Yeah, uh, hi Agent Darkbootie," Dib said somewhat awkwardly. It had been a long while since they had last spoken, and their last conversation wasn't exactly productive. It had devolved into another argument about needing more concrete evidence. Still, Agent Darkbootie was the only agent who didn't treat Dib like some kind of crazed child. In fact, Dib could tell that Darkbootie believed his claims about Zim on some level. He thought back on when Darkbootie had helped him at NASA by giving him a ship to go to Mercury. If anyone could help Dib, it would be Agent Darkbootie. Dib continued, "Listen, I think I've got something."

"What is it?" Darkbootie asked.

"Zim will be leaving Earth soon," Dib explained. He saw Darkbootie's red eyes widen ever so slightly. "He'll probably be gone in about five days."

"Hmm," Darkbootie mused. Dib waited a few moments for his response. "How do you know this?" Dib felt himself shudder at the memory.

"I infiltrated Zim's base," Dib explained. "I overheard a call he made to another planet. He plans on leaving Earth and heading to a planet called Meekrob." Darkbootie nodded.

"And what purpose does he have for this?" Dib paused at that. He didn't know the entire story, but he at least had a vague theory.

"Well," Dib started. "It seems complicated, but I think he isn't affiliated with the Irken Empire anymore." He thought for a moment, bringing up the conversation between Zim and the alien on Meekrob in his mind. "Apparently he's no longer allowed back on his home planet. He's probably just looking for a place to go that isn't Earth." Dib heard Darkbootie hum in thought.

"Well, if this is the case, then we shouldn't need to be worried about him anymore," Darkbootie pointed out.

"I'm not so sure about that," Dib replied, shaking his head. "The Irken Empire is hellbent on total galactic conquest. I'm certain they'll have Earth in their cross hairs eventually." Of course, Dib knew he was merely speculating. He had nothing to prove that what he was saying was absolute fact. Still, he felt the danger of the Irken Empire was very real. He hoped Agent Darkbootie would understand.

"You know I can't bring any of this to the other board members without proof, Mothman." Dib sighed in disappointment, not entirely surprised at his mentor's words.

"I know," Dib relented. "I don't expect you to."

"Then what is it you want from me?"

"I just want to send you the data on my hard drive," Dib explained. "It's everything I have on Zim, the Irkens, their Empire, everything I could find. It's all here." Dib sat back and tore his gaze from the screen. "I mean, I've sent a lot of it to the Network before, but of course no one ever believes me."

"You know I do," Darkbootie said somewhat softly. Dib scoffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I just wish you'd show it more often." Darkbootie shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Mothman," he tried to assure Dib. "But you know the guidelines of the Swollen Eyeball Network. I can't break them just for your sake."

"Right, yeah, sorry," Dib said, not wanting to start another argument.

"How much is there?" Darkbootie asked, after a short awkward silence.

"A couple of gigabytes," Dib replied. "Most of it is video, but I've compiled timestamps of relevant information as accompaniments. There's also a bunch of photos and text documents in there, I don't even know if I remember it all." Dib heard Agent Darkbootie gasp and saw his eyes widen. Before Darkbootie could protest, he quickly continued. "Look I don't expect you to look at all of this stuff. I mean, I've sent bits and pieces to you before, but not everything." Dib brought his hands in the air to signal finger quotes. "You know, 'hard evidence' and all that."

"Mothman-" Darkbootie warned.

"I know, I know," Dib quickly interrupted. He looked at his mentor with pleading eyes. "Just... you know, can you at least take a look? Skim it or something, I dunno. I just want to make sure we're prepared if Irk ever decides to come from Earth." Darkbootie took a moment to consider Dib's request. After a short while, he nodded.

"If it'll put you at ease, then fine. Send me the data, Mothman. But this will be between only us, for now. Understand?" Darkbootie leaned into the camera and narrowed his eyes slightly. Dib quickly nodded in agreement.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I'll be here when you're done with the upload. Agent Darkbootie, out."

The call window went black. Dib took off his headset and sighed heavily. That definitely went better than he thought it was going to. He didn't waste anytime. He compressed the contents of his hard drive into an archive and began uploading it to Agent Darkbootie. It would probably take around a half-hour for it to finish, so for now, Dib had nothing to do. Maybe some television would take his mind off things. He hopped off his chair and headed out of his room. When he reached the living room, the door suddenly opened. Professor Membrane walked through the threshold and announced his entrance.

"Good afternoon, children!" Dib's father called out. "I'm home!" Dib raised an eyebrow. Well, this was unexpected. This certainly wasn't his dad's one day off for the year. At least, not the last time Dib checked his calendar. "But," Membrane said, pointing a finger in the air. "Only for a short time! Just need to pick a few things up from the basement for the lab!"

"Uh, hey dad," Dib said, awkwardly raising his hand. His relationship with his father was, well, complicated. On one hand, Dib knew that the professor loved his children very much. Or, at least, that was what Dib tried to believe. It was no secret that Professor Membrane was often caught up in his work, but he did what he could to provide for his kids. Even if he forgot, sometimes. But hey, that's just the life of a famous scientist, right? Yeah, that was it.

Unfortunately, Dib could not deny that he held some resentment towards his father. Not only was he never around, but he constantly berated Dib for his interest in paranormal studies. Of all people, his father was the one person he wished would listen. Why couldn't he see what was directly in front of him? Why couldn't he ever entertain the idea that Dib might be right? Even if Membrane didn't believe his son, it would at least be welcome to humor him just once. But no, Dib's father would never have his back. It was 'unscientific' to believe in aliens. It was a waste of time that should be spent doing 'real science'.

Just as he did with everyone else at school, Dib had given up trying to convince his father long ago. Dib's eyes shot open when the Professor gasped loudly and walked swiftly over to Dib.

"Son, what happened?" he asked frantically. Membrane knelt down to inspect Dib's face. Dib felt his heart drop. As appreciative as he felt towards his father's worried demeanor, he really wasn't in the mood for this. Dib sighed.

"Nothing Dad," Dib tried to reassure his father. "I'm alright." Membrane shook his head and furred his eyebrows.

"Nonsense, son! You clearly have a black eye! And why is your neck so bruised?" Dib groaned internally, desperately not wanting to continue this conversation. It would do no good to explain what really happened.

"I'm fine," Dib said as he pulled away from his dad. He quickly racked his brains for some kind of excuse. Unfortunately, he couldn't find one that would explain away his battered appearance. So he told the truth. Sort of. "I got into a fight, that's all."

"What?" Membrane shouted. "Who did you fight? What happened? Tell me this instant!" Crap, Dib knew he was going to press for more information. If only he could have come up with a better excuse. He didn't want to tell his father about Zim. Not only because Dib knew his dad wouldn't believe anything that had to do with Zim being an alien, but also because he didn't want the Professor to go after Zim. The Irken was going to leave Earth, and there was really no point in risking repercussions by agitating him. Plus, considering that Membrane didn't believe that Zim was an alien, he would be unprepared if Zim decided to attack him. Dib quickly came up with a lie to get his father off the question.

"I don't know," Dib said, trying to sound believable. "It was... someone in the city trying to mug me." Dib prayed to whatever God there may be that his father would believe him.

"My word, that's horrible!" Membrane shouted in despair."I hope you've already called the police!"

"Uh, yeah," Dib said cautiously. "I've already filed a report. Haven't heard anything back yet." Membrane nodded his head.

"Splendid! Glad to hear it!" Dib cocked his head and raised his eyebrow. Dib almost felt that his father was a bit too quick to believe his story. Considering how much his father doubted him in the past, Dib was surprised that his father was not questioning him any further. He wasn't going to dwell on that. He was just glad that particular conversation seemed to be ending. Membrane stood back up and looked down to his son.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Membrane asked his son, sounding genuinely worried. Dib looked up at his father and nodded.

"Yeah, dad. I'll be alright." Dib wasn't used to his father sounding worried. It almost felt off to him.

"If you say so, son," Membrane said. He looked around the room. "Where's Gaz?" Dib waved a dismissive hand at him.

"She's at the mall getting some new game," he told his dad.

"And you didn't go with her?" Dib rolled his eyes.

"Dad, she's sixteen now. You know she can handle herself." Dib's father paused for a moment, considering Dib's words.

"I suppose," he relented. "But next time go with her, okay son? Especially if there's muggers in the city. I don't want her getting hurt too."

"Sure, dad."

"Now, I have to get back to the lab before Jerry blows it up again! I'll see you kids in two months for dinner!" With that, Professor Membrane walked towards the basement and out of Dib's sight. Dib sat down on the couch and flipped on the television. There was nothing else to do, so he may as well let his brain rot. It might help take his mind off things. At least, for a little while.

* * *

Since their last intense conversation two days ago, Zim hadn't gone back into the medical bay. He made sure to check on the status of her PAK repairs, of course. They had long since been finished, and all there was to do was wait until the medical functions of her PAK fixed the damage to her body. He still needed to perform a software maintenance, but currently Zim was hesitant to enter the medical bay again. He wasn't necessarily scared of Tak, but he felt he had enough difficult conversations to last his entire life. He had dropped quite a bombshell on her, and Zim knew she would need some time for her mind to adjust to the information. It wasn't clear whether Tak believed Zim, but he figured she would piece things together herself. She may be rash, but she wasn't ignorant. Surely his last conversation with her would start to bring the obvious facts to the forefront of her mind. Like the desertion of her post, for instance.

Zim couldn't resist feeling bad for Tak. They may have been enemies, but Zim couldn't help but empathize with her current situation. He knew exactly what it felt like to find out about being a Defective. Who knows how Tak was taking it. Zim wondered if she would consider his proposition. Would she go with him to Meekrob? It was extremely unlikely, considering how much Tak hated him. But if she didn't go with Zim, where else could she go? She couldn't return to Irk. Maybe she'd stay on Earth? Nah, she hated this planet just as much as she hated Zim. Perhaps even more so. What other options did she have?

Another thought crossed his mind. If Tak were to go with him to Meekrob, she would need a ship. Zim seriously doubted his Voot Cruiser would fit two Irkens, their SIR units, and whatever else they decided to take with them. Not comfortably, anyway. Hell, even if she didn't decide to go with him, Zim had a feeling she wouldn't want to stay on Earth. But she couldn't go anywhere without transportation. Zim didn't feel comfortable with even considering the obvious option plaguing the back of his mind. He knew that Dib had Tak's ship, but he didn't think he could take another encounter with the boy. There was no telling where that would go considering recent events. Maybe Zim could just leave that up to Tak. She would surely have no problem retrieving her ship from the horrible Earth child. After all, she had the potential to be the greatest Invader that Irk had ever known. There was plenty of documented evidence of that fact. Zim knew, no matter what, that Tak would be able to handle herself.

Wait, why did he even care? This was Tak he was thinking about! He hated her!

Didn't he?

Maybe he did, at one point. He certainly hated her when she was trying to take over his mission. The two Irkens had been nothing but hostile towards each other in the few interactions they ever had. Zim didn't get a good first impression when Tak first revealed herself to be Irken all those years ago. Crippling his base and stealing his mission didn't exactly scream friendly. Though, in retrospect, Zim now fully understood why Tak hated him so much. He really did ruin her life. In many ways, even. He was the reason she didn't become an Invader. He was the reason she got stuck on Dirt. And, indirectly, he was the reason she was now deemed a traitor of the Irken Empire.

Another emotion Zim had never felt before. Remorse.

Zim was currently sitting on the couch, staring at the blank television. He was happy that Gir was somewhere else doing... whatever it was that he was doing. He just wanted some peace and quiet so he could relax on the couch without any interruptions. He had been sitting for hours, still procrastinating his trip to the medical bay. He really shouldn't put it off any longer. It was better to just get it over with.

He got up from the couch and headed towards the kitchen.

* * *

The door opened, revealing the familiar sight of Tak laying down on the medical table, her restraints still firmly locked. She lifted her head in response to the noise, taking a quick glare at Zim before looking away. She didn't say a word as Zim walked closer to the table. Nervousness gripped Zim's demeanor. He still wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but keeping her locked down would do no good. It didn't feel right to him. He had his plasma pistol holstered, ready to be drawn at the first sign of a fight. Zim reached the table and looked at Tak, who was defiantly refusing to look back. Zim took a few shaky breaths before speaking.

"How... how are you feeling?" Tak made no reaction. She didn't say a single word. Her body, stiff as a plank of wood. The awkward silence loomed uncomfortably. Zim coughed. "Is your PAK done with your treatment?" At this, Tak nudged her head towards the control panel next to her table, still refusing to look at Zim.

He turned to the control panel and walked over, slightly annoyed that Tak was refusing to talk. He tapped at the panel and looked at the data that was streaming from her PAK. Zim sighed in slight relief as he read over the information.

"All your life functions seem optimal," Zim pointed out. "I just have to perform a quick PAK software maintenance and-"

"Don't bother," Tak replied with no emotion. Zim squinted at Tak and perked his antennae. Did he hear that right?

"Eh? Why not?" he asked incredulously.

"Just don't," Tak replied, still not looking at Zim. Zim sighed and walked back over to Tak. He stared down at her in pity.

"Tak, listen. I know that-"

"_Don't._" Tak's voice was laced with pure ire, and it made Zim shrink just a bit. "Don't. Just fucking don't. I don't need this from _you_ right now." Zim was silent, unsure of what to say. He wanted to release her from the restraints, but doing so could be a threat to his safety. He needed to calm her down first. He decided to step back and wait it out. He leaned his back against a wall in the room, facing the front of Tak on the table.

"You should have killed me," Tak said quietly, her venomous tone making her voice seem louder than it actually was. Zim continued staring at Tak.

"Maybe, but I didn't," Zim said simply.

"Well you _should_ have," she replied angrily. "I think I would have preferred dying over..." Her voice trailed off as it became shaky. Zim shook his head, knowing exactly what she was going through.

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Zim sighed. He waited for a response from Tak. Hearing nothing, he walked back towards her table and decided to try to keep the conversation going. "Remember when you asked me why I didn't deactivate my PAK?" He closed his eyes at the memory and continued. "Well, I almost did. I was _this_ close to actually doing it." Zim, despite the fact that Tak couldn't see, pinched his fingers together in the air to emphasize his point. "If it wasn't for that infernal computer of mine-"

**"Hey, I can hear you, ya know,"** the Computer's electronic voice accused.

"SILENCE!" Zim shouted. "Computer, I command you to shut down all audio pickup devices in and around this room!"

**"Ugh, fine."** Satisfied that he and Tak were no longer being spied on by his sarcastic AI, Zim turned back to Tak, who had raised her head to look at Zim for the first time since he entered the room.

"You should have done it," Tak accused. "Not just because I came here to kill you, but you and I both know it's the right thing to do. We may be Def... I mean... We're still Irken." Tak's breath hitched as she tried to force her words out. It seemed she was still getting a grip on her newfound status. Zim didn't blame her.

"We're no longer Irken," Zim said sadly. "Not by the standards of the Empire, anyways."

"Then there's no point, is there?" Tak asked, sounding defeated. Zim got closer, leaned in towards Tak and stared into her eyes.

"You'd give up on life so easily, Tak?" Zim asked very seriously.

"I-" Tak cut herself off. She seemed to be racking her brain, trying to consider what Zim was saying. Zim waited for a response. When none came, he backed away from her.

"Well, I don't want to give up on life," he continued. He through a hand up in triumph. "I am Zim! I never die!"

"You can say that again," Tak quipped, angrily rolling her eyes. She gasped in shock when Zim started chuckling at her jab. Zim couldn't help but find it amusing. She definitely wasn't wrong. Zim could barely count the number of times he had a brush with death. He smiled at Tak, still giggling. It was only her disgusted look that was able to cease his laughter. He coughed awkwardly and walked over to the control panel, ready to input the command.

"If I release you, will you still try to kill me?" Zim asked, worry lacing his tone.

"I..." Tak trailed off. She didn't seem to be able to answer his question.

"Listen," Zim sighed. "I'm not asking you to forgive me. If I were in your situation, I probably wouldn't either. I know I'll never be able to convince you of this, but I am truly sorry for everything I've ever done to you." Tak's angry expression seemed to soften ever so slightly. Apologizing was becoming easier for Zim each time he said the words. He continued, "I don't want us fighting like this anymore. We're Defective," Zim saw Tak jerk slightly at the word, "and there's no point in trying to kill each other anymore. You don't have to come with me when I leave Earth, but until then, let's at least try to act amicably." Tak looked away and rested her head back down on the table, apparently deep in thought. Zim waited patiently for Tak to respond.

"Where will you go?" she finally said, the usual anger in her voice was absent.

"Meekrob."

"_Meekrob?_ Are you joking?" Tak shouted, her anger returning in full. Zim winced a bit. It seemed that Tak didn't already know. That wasn't entirely surprising. It had been five years since he had seen her, after all. Tak continued her furious rant. "You're probably one of the most wanted Irkens in the Empire, and you're going to a planet that's marked for conquest? For Irk's sake it's probably already had an Organic Sweep! I thought you _didn't_ have a death wish?"

"Tak, listen-"

"No way, Zim," Tak cut him off sharply. "I want to know what makes you think this is a good idea."

"You haven't been keeping up to date with the invasions, have you?" Zim asked knowingly.

"My ship didn't have a connection to the Armada," Tak explained. "I haven't been able to..." Tak trailed off as her face lit up in an ominous realization. "Wait a minute, what about he invasions? What happened on Meekrob?"

"I'll explain when we go reactivate Mimi," Zim waved her concerns off. He saw her face quickly shift at the mention of her SIR unit. It seemed she cared quite a lot about her lackey. Zim wasn't surprised, thinking about his relationship with Gir. He continued. "First I want your word that you won't try to kill me the second I release you."

The silence was nearly unbearable as Tak considered Zim's proposition. He waited patiently, trying to read Tak's face. She was no longer looking at him. After what felt like an eternity, the silence was broken.

"You saved my life," Tak said somewhat meekly. "The least I can do is spare yours." She shot a dangerous glare at Zim. "For now." Zim sighed a breath of relief. It was a start.

"Thank you, Tak," he said genuinely, bowing his head at her. He released the restraints.

* * *

Tak was unsuccessfully trying to block out her thoughts as they headed for the repair bay. She stood in the elevator next to her enemy. Well, former enemy. For now. She still held an extreme hatred towards the Irken who destroyed her life, but she couldn't deny that Zim had a point. She was still trying to process that she was a... No. She couldn't say it. She couldn't even think it. She had done enough thinking over the past few days. Any more, and she felt like her brain would explode.

Try as she might, she still couldn't shake out those terrifying thoughts. She ran through her past. The main event that stuck out was the desertion of her post on Dirt. No matter how hard she tried to come up with a valid reason for doing so, she couldn't deny that she had violated Irken law. For some reason, she had never thought about it before. She had been so focused on stealing Zim's mission before. And afterwards, her thoughts focused solely on getting revenge on Zim. It had never crossed her mind that her actions were irrational by the standards of the Irken Empire. She always figured that the Tallest would respect her once she proved herself.

That was a notion that also fit Zim pretty well, and that realization absolutely horrified Tak.

What was she going to do? There weren't many options available to her if she truly couldn't return to Irk. Perhaps she could stay on Earth and conquer it, just for fun. Strangely, that didn't sound very appealing. Why spend the effort if she wasn't going to get the recognition from her Tallest? No, wait, her former Tallest. She sighed mournfully at the thought. She certainly wasn't going to stay on this miserable rock, but where would she go? If she was wanted by the Irken Empire, there really weren't very many populated planets she could go to that would be safe. A large portion was marked by the Irken Empire, and most of those were surely already successfully taken over. Trying to take refuge in any of these planets would be suicide.

She could also go with Zim to Meekrob. But there were two huge problems with that idea. First, the obvious. She didn't think she would be able to stand Zim's company for very long. He may have saved her life, but that didn't mean she had to start acting friendly with him. She could still feel the hatred for him boiling her blood. At the same time, she still felt grateful towards him on some small level. He was the only reason she was still alive, after all. That, along with his complete honesty with her, was currently keeping her from enacting what she had originally came back to this horrible planet to do. Zim was right. For the time being, she and Zim would be better off putting their differences aside. At least until they had a plan that would keep them safe from the Irken Empire.

But there was still the second problem...

Tak tapped her foot on the floor. The elevator was going far too slow for her liking. She wasn't comfortable being this close to the Irken she despised. Perhaps some conversation would distract her. Besides, she needed to know anyway.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened with Meekrob? Why do you think it would be a safe place to go?" Tak asked insistently. Zim jumped at Tak's loud voice. He turned his attention towards her to answer.

"How much do you know about the invasion of Meekrob?" Zim asked. Tak thought for a moment. Her knowledge was admittedly limited. She didn't really know anything past her last encounter with Zim.

"I know that it was planned as a part of Operation Impending Doom II," Tak said. "Invader Tenn was assigned to it. I don't really know much outside of that." She shot Zim another angry glare. "No thanks to you." She may have a temporary truce with Zim, but she still wasn't going to let him off easily for his past transgressions. Tak saw Zim's eyes widen in shock at the mention of Invader Tenn. It looked as though he was having some kind of epiphany.

"Tenn... No way, it couldn't..." Zim trailed off, looking rather perplexed. Tak perked her antennae at him.

"What's the matter?" Tak asked curiously. Zim shook his head and dismissed Tak's question.

"It's nothing," Zim said. He shook his head and hurriedly continued his explanation. "Yes, Invader Tenn was assigned to Meekrob. However, her invasion attempts were interrupted when she was sent a batch of Defective SIR units."

"What? Why the hell would the Tallest do that?" Tak demanded. Surely the Tallest wouldn't have done something so cruel to one of their best Invaders. Zim was quick to explain away her query.

"I thought the same thing," Zim said. "But thinking back on it..." Zim paused as he stared up at the ceiling, apparently wrestling with something in his thoughts. "Well, I don't want to get into it, but I think they were meant for me."

"Oh," Tak said simply. The elevator reached its destination, and Tak and Zim stepped into the repair bay.

"Anyways," Zim awkwardly continued as they headed towards the platform that held Mimi. "The SIR units ran amok, and blew her cover. She was captured shortly after. Once the Armada got intel on what happened, they immediately changed course and headed straight for Meekrob."

"Strange," Tak mused. "Why didn't the Tallest send a rescue team?" Zim shrugged.

"I have no idea, but it was a bad move." They reached the control console and stopped in front of it. Zim continued, "I'm not sure how long it took for the Armada to reach Meekrob, but they took long enough for the Meekrobians to prepare. I suspect the Tallest weren't expecting them to mount such a defense." Tak's jaw shot open at the implication.

"Are you saying we _lost?_" Tak felt her conscious tell her that there was no longer any 'we'. She was no longer Irken, after all. Not in title, at least. She tried not to dwell on it. Zim affirmed her question with a quick nod.

"The Tallest eventually decided to negotiate a peace agreement," Zim explained. Now that was unbelievable. Meekrob was Irk's number one enemy. What the hell kind of defense did they put up if they managed something like that?

"That doesn't make any sense," Tak insisted angrily. "The Tallest would never agree to such a thing."

"You underestimate the power Meekrob holds," Zim said. "Irk's technology is heavily based on Vortian designs. The Vortians may be highly intelligent, but their technology can't compete with beings of pure energy." Zim began tapping away on the control console, getting ready to reactivate Tak's SIR unit. "The Armada was losing too many ships. No one knows exactly how they were so prepared for their arrival, but I have my suspicions." Zim paused in thought for a moment. Tak wondered what Zim thought had happened, but he didn't elaborate. "Had the Tallest continued their assault, they surely would have gotten the entire fleet destroyed," Zim added.

"If that's the case, then why didn't they give up and leave Meekrob?" Tak asked.

"They threatened to retaliate against planet Irk," Zim explained. "I dunno if it was the Tallest themselves or the Control Brains, but whoever made the decision to negotiate didn't take their threats lightly. Either way, the two factions negotiated a deal. It was eventually agreed upon that Irk and Meekrob would not interact with each other in any way."

It was a lot for Tak to take in, and she had already reached her limit. She couldn't believe that the glory of the Irken Empire could ever lose a battle. She couldn't think of a single time in Irken history where they weren't triumphant in their war efforts. Her perception on the Empire, and Irk as a whole, was slowly being corrupted with each new bit of information she gleaned from Zim.

"So then, you think escaping to Meekrob would be the safe?" Tak asked, trying to distract herself from her mind.

"Yes. I've already called them. They know I'm coming."

Zim finished his work on the control console. After a few moments, Tak saw Mimi light up red. She felt a rush of relief flow through her senses as the little robot began moving.

"Mimi!" Tak shouted gleefully. The robot perked up, and immediately jumped towards her owner, giving her a firm salute. Tak couldn't help herself. She immediately knelt down and hugged her minion. She could barely fathom how happy she was to see Mimi up and running again after so long. Mimi turned a head towards Zim, and her eyes widened. She pointed one of her robotic arms directly at Zim and beeped frantically at her owner. Tak shook her head as her PAK translated Mimi's robotic speech.

"Don't worry about the worm," she said, spitting the title at Zim. "He's no threat to us." Tak saw Zim rolling his eyes, but paid it no mind. Mimi did a few double-takes between Tak and Zim. She bleeped out another confused statement. Tak replied, "I do, Mimi. But we've reached a... temporary truce for the time being." Zim cocked his antennae at the display.

"How can you understand it?" Zim asked. Tak pointed behind her at her PAK, raising her eye as if it was obvious. "Oh, right," Zim nodded. Tak tore away from her reunion with Mimi and took a look at Zim's Voot Cruiser on the other side of the room. She walked towards the platform and inspected the ship. She could tell it was in rough shape. Robotic arms constantly buzzed around the ship as they attempted to repair it. An idea began forming in her head.

As if Zim could read her mind, he spoke up as he walked towards her.

"If you're thinking about stealing it, don't bother," he warned. "I've made a few modifications. It won't run unless it detects my bio-signature inside the cockpit." Damn, well that idea was out.

"If I was going to join you on your trip to Meekrob," Tak asked warily, "how exactly do you expect me to follow you without a ship?" Zim looked nervous at that. He was kind of hoping she wouldn't ask. Of course, he knew it was inevitable. He looked seriously at Tak and gave his answer.

"I think I know where your ship is."


End file.
